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THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 

PRESENTS THIS COPY OF ITS LAST TRIBUTE OF RESPECT 

TO THE MEMORY OF ONE OF THE MOST HONORED 

MEMBERS OF THE FACULTY 

DOCTOR CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 



CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 





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In cMemoriam Ko.^ " 
Cyril Georg^e Hopkins 



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Ei^Kteen Hundred and Sixty-Six 
cNineteen Hundred and Nineteen 







I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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/^T_l Y this record of the Memorial Exercises 
JLJ following the passing of Doctor Hopkins, 
the University of Illinois pays lasting tribute 
to the character, the scholarship, and the ser- 
vice of one of the most distinguished members 
of its faculty. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



YRIL GEORGE HOPKINS was born upon a farm 
near Chatfield, Minnesota, on July 22, 1866. As a 
small child he moved with his parents to South 
I^M1!H^ Dakota, where, as he grew up, he lived the life of 
l^^^l the pioneer. While teaching country school as a 
means of earning money for a college course, he nearly lost 
his life in a blizzard when caring for the children under his 
charge, a loss he would have cheerfully met rather than 
abandon his duty, as his later life abundantly testified. 

He was graduated from South Dakota Agricultural College, 
at Brookings, in 1890, obtained his state teacher's certificate in 
1891, earned his master's degree at Cornell in 1894, and his 
doctor's degree in 1898. A year later, 1899-1900, he studied 
agricultural chemistry at Gottingen. 

Doctor Hopkins began his college service immediately after 
graduation, serving as Assistant in Agricultural Chemistry in 
his Alma Mater from 1890-1892, then in Cornell during 1892- 
1893, returning to Brookings as Acting Professor of Pharmacy 
during 1893-1894. In May, 1893, he married Emma Matilda 
Stelter, of Brookings. 

In the autumn of 1894, he was appointed Chemist of the 
Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of Illinois. 
This responsible position he held continuously thereafter. In 
accepting the appointment, Doctor Hopkins made a reser- 
vation covering his purpose to work for the doctorate, and 
this he secured at Cornell four years later, offering as a thesis 
his famous treatise "The Chemistry of the Corn Kernel," re- 
porting a piece of work which he had begun at the University 
of Illinois. 



II 



CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

It was the desire to prosecute further studies with starch 
that took him to Germany a year later; and while there, he 
was appointed Professor of Soil Fertility and Head of the 
newly organized Department of Agronomy of the University 
of Illinois in 1900, a position tendered and accepted by cable, 
and one which he held until his death. In 1903 he was ap- 
pointed Vice-Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station. 

It was characteristic of the man that he said long after- 
ward, "I accepted the position to head the agronomy interests, 
not because I coveted prominence and responsibility or because 
I felt myself qualified, but because such men as President 
Draper, Doctor Burrill, Professor Forbes, and the Dean of 
the College considered that I was the best available man ; and 
whenever four equally good men feel that another is better 
qualified, then I am ready to surrender the position at any 
time." And in this statement he was perfectly sincere. 

He threw himself at once and unreservedly into the prob- 
lems of the department. In attempting to discover its field 
of service to the Commonwealth he organized a soil survey 
of the state, the most comprehensive ever undertaken, and he 
studied the problem of production from the standpoint of 
maintaining unimpaired the power of the soil to produce crops. 
His textbook, "Soil Fertility and Permanent Agriculture," 
embodies the results of his studies both scientific and philo- 
sophical, and has long been recognized as a classic. 

Doctor Hopkins lost no opportunity to preach the doctrine 
of soil conservation and this disposition to serve, combined 
with a desire to broaden his experience, led him in 1913 to 
accept for one year the position as Director of the Southern 
Settlement and Development Organization with headquarters 
at Baltimore. 

It is needless to observe that it was as Professor of Soil 
Fertility that Doctor Hopkins performed his great service to 
mankind. This is not the place to speak of that service fur- 
ther than to say that he literally put his life into the problem 

12 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

of permanent agriculture, holding himself at any time ready 
to meet any sacrifice in the line of duty, and no martyr ever 
journeyed where duty led more cheerfully than did he. 

It was this spirit that took him to Greece in an effort to do 
something that might help to heal the wounds of a war that 
he bitterly deplored and whose methods of combat he vigor- 
ously resented. It was during this year's service that he con- 
tracted the ailment that cost his life and deprived the world of 
one of its most valuable scientists and benefactors in the very 
zenith of his powers. He worked cruelly hard in Greece, in 
company with his old friend and student, Dr. George 
Bouyoucos, of Michigan. He collected and analyzed hundreds 
of samples of soil, drew his conclusions, made complete re- 
ports, was decorated by the King with the rarely bestowed 
Order of Our Saviour, and sailed for home in what seemed 
to be a perfect state of health, only to be stricken four days 
later with an attack of malaria, from which he died at the 
British Military Hospital at Gibraltar on October 6, 1919. 

Memorial exercises were held at the University of Illinois 
on January 22, 1920, of which this little volume is the record. 

So closed the career of one of the noblest characters the 
world has ever known ; a scientist of the highest order and a 
benefactor to mankind ; a firm friend and a courteous Christian 
gentleman. 

Eugene Davenport 



13 



ORGANIZATIONS OF WHICH 
DOCTOR HOPKINS WAS A MEMBER 

Doctor Hopkins was a member of the following organiza- 
tions : American Chemical Society ; Association of the Offi- 
cial Agricultural Chemists (President, 1905-06) ; American 
Society of Agronomy ; American Breeders' Association ; 
Illinois Corn Breeders' Association ; fellow in the American 
Association for the Advancement of Science ; Illinois State 
Academy of Science ; Sigma Xi ; Phi Lambda Upsilon ; 
Alpha Zeta. 



14 





DECORATION OF THE ORDER OF OUR SAVIOR 
CONFERRED UPON DOCTOR HOPKINS BY THE KING OF GREECE 



MEMORIAL EXERCISES IN HONOR OF 
CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
January 22, 1920 

AFTERNOON PROGRAM 

Eugene Davenport, Dean of the College of Agriculture, 
University of Illinois, Presiding 



Prayer Reverend Stephen E. Fisher, Pastor University Place 
Christian Church, Champaign 

The Earlier Years of Doctor Hopkins' Scientific Career 

Dr. L. H. Smith, Professor of Plant Breeding, University 
of Illinois 

The Scientific Basis of the Illinois System of Permanent 
Agriculture 

Dr. Robert Stewart, Professor of Soil Fertility, University 
of Illinois 

The Practical Significance of the Illinois System of Per- 
manent Agriculture 

Mr. Ralph Allen, Delavan, Illinois, Member of University 
Soils Advisory Committee 

Doctor Hopkins, the True Teacher of the Science of 
Agriculture 

Brother Leo, Notre Dame, Indiana 

15 



The Culminating Year in the Life of Doctor Hopkins 

Dr. George Bouyoucos, Michigan Agricultural College 
(Captain in American Red Cross Commission to Greece) 

A Permanent Memorial 

Mr. Frank I. Mann, Gilman, Illinois, Member of Uni- 
versity Soils Advisory Committee 



EVENING PROGRAM 



Professor J. C. Blair, Head of Department of Horticulture, 
University of Illinois, Presiding 



Doctor Hopkins, The Public Servant 

Dr. David Kinley, Acting President, University of Illinois 

The Significance of the Work of Doctor Hopkins 

Dr. E. W. Allen, Chief, Office of Experiment Stations, 
United States Department of Agriculture 

Doctor Hopkins^ The Man 

Dean Eugene Davenport 



i6 



ADDRESSES DELIVERED 
AT THE MEMORIAL EXERCISES 



THE EARLIER YEARS OF DOCTOR HOPKINS' 
SCIENTIFIC CAREER 

By LOUIE HENRIE SMITH 
Professor of Plant Breeding, University of Illinois 

THE importance and the renown of Doctor Hopkins' great 
work in the field of soil fertility has naturally tended to 
overshadow his other scientific accomplishments, and it is 
doubtless true that thousands of people who knew Doctor 
Hopkins well as a great soil expert have no knowledge what- 
ever of his valuable work along other lines. It would be a 
mistake indeed if on this occasion these other scientific ac- 
complishments were to be overlooked. To me, therefore, has 
been assigned the privilege of calling attention briefly to some 
of these earlier activities of Doctor Hopkins before he entered 
upon that field that finally claimed him for his great life work 
and for which he will always be known. 

Perhaps my purpose can best be accomplished by recount- 
ing in somewhat narrative form certain of the more interesting 
events of the earlier years of Doctor Hopkins' connection with 
the University of Illinois. 

Doctor Hopkins came to Illinois in 1894 to take the position 
of Chemist of the Agricultural Experiment Station. He had 
been graduated from the College of Agriculture of South 
Dakota and had been an assistant to Doctor Shepard, the 
chemist of that station. He had also had some experience in 
college teaching, having conducted the course in pharmacy. 
He had not, however, completed his education to his satisfac- 
tion and one of the conditions of acceptance of his new position 
was a provision for leave of absence to pursue graduate study. 
He had already spent some months at Cornell University 
and in two periods of leave from Illinois he returned to Cornell 
and finished first the work for his master's degree and finally 
the work for his doctor's degree. 

19 



CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

One of the first problems that Doctor Hopkins took up 
after his arrival at Illinois, as indicated by the title of the first 
publication of the Experiment Station to bear his name, was 
a study of the composition and digestibility of corn ensilage, 
cowpea ensilage, soja bean ensilage, and corn fodder. 

My own earliest recollection of Doctor Hopkins is in con- 
nection with this work, and I picture in my mind now the old- 
fashioned mercury air-pump in his laboratory up there on the 
third floor of what was then the Chemistry Building, but which 
now shelters the College of Law, where hour after hour we 
worked on that everlasting job of crude-fiber determination, 
he with his characteristic patience and accuracy carefully 
washing out the fiber from the acid and alkali extractions, and 
I cranking that old mercury pump. The routine nature of this 
kind of laboratory work did not demand such strenuous mental 
application but that there was some opportunity for conversa- 
tion. That opportunity, I may say, was not neglected, and so 
chemistry, agriculture, politics, religion, and philosophy were 
freely discussed and at times even a late story was exchanged. 
Those were rare days, and many a time in later years when re- 
sponsibilities multiplied and departmental affairs became so 
intricate that the opportunity for a short, necessary confer- 
ence with the Doctor sometimes required days of waiting, I 
have looked back to those old days with some regret, and 
with great appreciation, for the opportunity they afforded in 
the intimate contact with this great master of science, an op- 
portunity that has not been possible in later years. 

The investigation referred to above was a digestion experi- 
ment conducted by the method well known to students of 
agriculture in which a given feedstuff of known composition 
is fed to an animal in known amount and the amount and com- 
position of the excreta are determined, and from these data 
the proportion of the various food nutrients retained by the 
animal body is found and the digestibility of the feedstuff in 
question thus determined. 

20 



EARLIER YEARS 

It is quite impossible in the time allotted to go into de- 
tails of these investigations, but one point in passing is of 
interest as illustrating the truly scientific instinct of this man 
as an investigator. The bulletin reporting the above experi- 
ment states that four high-grade steers were used, altho, it is 
noted, "usually digestion experiments are made with not more 
than two animals and often with only one." Altho the error 
due to "individuality" in animals in this sort of work has been 
well recognized in these later years, it seems not to have 
been taken into account in those days. But Doctor Hopkins' 
keen scientific judgment, which seemed with him to be an 
intuition, did not allow him to overlook this point. This was 
characteristic. It was with this same scientific instinct that 
he fortified all his work against critical attack, and it was this 
same characteristic that enabled him to make such discrimina- 
tive analysis of the data of others. "Presumably we should 
accept the data of others," he was wont to say, "but we are in 
no way bound to accept their conclusions." I well recall some 
of these lessons from him in what might be called scientific 
judgment — how he used to point out the absurdity of carefully 
carrying out figures to the third and fourth decimal place when 
perhaps the error in sampling might be many times as great 
as the difference in the figures ; or of exercising undue pre- 
cision at one point in a process when it might be offset many 
times by some gross error at another point. 

The next work of Doctor Hopkins recorded in bulletin 
form was an investigation of the sugar beet in Illinois, a work 
undertaken jointly with Professor Holden, The question of 
the production of sugar in this country thru the introduction 
of the beet was at that time a live problem. To answer the 
quesion for Illinois, sugar-beet seed was distributed in the 
spring of 1897 to all sections of the state and samples from 
the resulting crop were returned for inspection. The results 
showed that sugar beets of acceptable quality and in profitable 
quantity can be grown in the northern and central portions of 

21 



CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

this state. The problem of sugar-beet production in Illinois 
was thus proven to be of an industrial nature rather than 
cultural. 

It was quite natural in a state like Illinois, where the inter- 
est is so largely centered in the corn crop, that the chemist 
of the experiment station should be attracted to the chemical 
problems of the corn plant, and so we find Doctor Hopkins 
soon becoming deeply engrossed in the chemistry of this great 
crop. 

"The Chemistry of the Corn Kernel" was the title of the 
next bulletin of Doctor Hopkins to appear. It is of interest 
to note that this publication served as the thesis for his doctor's 
degree at Cornell, a large portion of the work being done in 
the laboratories of that institution. This investigation went 
more completely into the chemistry of the different substances 
that make up the corn kernel than had any work hitherto done. 
Aside from the valuable information there given, our present 
interest in this work lies in the fact that it served as the basis 
of that great research which has come to be regarded as a 
classic in plant breeding, namely, the breeding of corn to 
influence its chemical composition. 

This breeding work grew out of suggestions made in con- 
ference with Doctor Burrill and Dean Davenport. Recogniz- 
ing the fact that corn is put to such a great variety of uses, 
it was proposed to investigate the possibility of modifying the 
composition of the grain in order to adapt it to various pur- 
poses, whether for feeding or for manufacturing. Accordingly, 
in 1896 a common variety of corn was taken and selection of 
seed was made in four directions ; namely, high protein, low 
protein, high oil, and low oil. Each of these lots of seed was 
planted by the ear-to-the-row method in an isolated breeding 
plot in order that it might not become mixed with other kinds. 
At harvest, representative samples were collected and analysed 
and further selection made along the respective lines. Repeat- 
ing this process year after year resulted in the gradual develop- 

22 



EARLIER YEARS 

ment of four distinct strains of corn corresponding to the selec- 
tion of the seed. 

Doctor Hopkins described this work in his bulletin entitled, 
"The Improvement in the Chemical Composition of the Corn 
Kernel," giving the results of the first two generations, which 
had been completed at that time. This work has been con- 
tinued up to the present time so that now there are unbroken 
pedigree records running back thru twenty-three consecutive 
generations, thus constituting the longest continued corn- 
breeding experiments in existence. The progress has been 
such that it may be stated that starting with a single ordinary 
variety of corn in 1896, it has been possible, thru this method 
of selection and breeding, to produce four distinct kinds of corn 
with respect to composition, so that now one strain is twice 
as rich in protein as another, and another strain is now five 
times as rich in oil as its corresponding opposite. 

In the year 1900 Doctor Hopkins obtained a leave of ab- 
sence to study and travel in Europe. The main portion of this 
time he spent at the University of Gottingen with the re- 
nowned chemist Tollens, working on the chemistry of the 
carbohydrates. Upon his return he came into the position of 
Professor of Agronomy. It was then that he began his investi- 
gations in soil fertility, and as he became more and more en- 
grossed in this subject, and as administrative duties connected 
with afifairs of a growing department multiplied, he was 
obliged to gradually relinquish his activities in these other 
lines of which I have attempted to speak. 

The point that I should like to emphasize in this brief re- 
view is the substantial character of the research work of this 
great scientist. Thoroness and accuracy characterized all these 
investigations, and it was these qualities that Doctor Hopkins 
injected into his subsequent work on soils and that have made 
his teachings command the respect and confidence of scientists 
and farmers alike. It is more of this substantial kind of in- 
vestigation that agriculture needs for its future development. 

2Z 



THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF THE ILLINOIS 

SYSTEM OF PERMANENT SOIL 

FERTILITY 

By EOBEET STEWAET 
Chief in Soil Tertility, University of Illinois* 

SIXTY years ago Liebig, the father of agricultural chem- 
istry, made the following statement : "Agriculture is, of 
all industrial pursuits, the richest in facts, and the poorest in 
their comprehension. Facts are like grains of sand which are 
moved by the wind, but principles are these same grains ce- 
mented into rocks." The great contribution made to Ameri- 
can agriculture by the late Doctor Hopkins was the gathering 
together, classifying, interpreting, and unifying, by his own 
investigations, the known facts of agriculture into a definite 
whole as practiced and taught by him in a system of perma- 
nent soil fertility. 

Many of the facts upon which the Illinois system is based 
have been known for many years and even centuries, and have 
been developed by other men in other institutions and in other 
times. It remained, however, for Doctor Hopkins to bring 
together and to unify these isolated facts into a definite work- 
able system, the keynote of which is permanency, and by his 
own investigations to demonstrate clearly that the system 
could be understood and used by the average farmer on his 
own farm, with profitable results. In his interpretation of the 
facts upon which this system is based all men have not agreed, 
and some even still do not agree with him. But the system 
rests on the sure foundation of facts supported by an abun- 
dance of experimental data now available from the fields and 
laboratories of the University of Illinois operated under his 
direction. 



*Now Dean of the College of Agriculture, University of Nevada. 

24 



PERMANENT SOIL FERTILITY 

The Illinois system of permanent soil fertility recognizes 
six positive factors of crop production. These may be desig- 
nated briefly as seed, temperature, moisture, light, a home for 
the plant, and food for its use. No one of these factors is more 
essential than another in the production of crops, but since 
they are not equally susceptible of control certain of them are 
more often the limiting factors. It is impossible, for example, 
to change the temperature conditions of winter so as to make 
that season suitable for crop production, and the practical 
means available for modifying the temperature conditions of 
the soil during the growing period of the crop are very lim- 
ited. Of all six factors that of plant food is the most com- 
pletely within the control of the farmer, for it is fully pos- 
sible for him to completely change in an economic way the 
amount of food available within the soil for the plant. Yet 
it is frequently true that the food supply of the soil is the 
limiting factor of crop production, especially under humid con- 
ditions such as prevail in Illinois. It is therefore to this factor 
that Doctor Hopkins has given large consideration in develop- 
ing a system of permanent soil fertility. 

There are ten essential elements of plant food in the ab- 
sence of any one of which the plant cannot function normally 
and produce good yields. These elements are : carbon, oxy- 
gen, hydrogen, iron, sulfur, calcium, magnesium, potassium, 
nitrogen, and phosphorus. The great bulk of the plant — ap- 
proximately 96 percent — consists of three elements, carbon, 
oxygen, and hydrogen. The supply of these elements, how- 
ever, as Doctor Hopkins pointed out, is automatically taken 
care of by nature, the carbon and oxygen being obtained by 
the plant directly from the carbon dioxid of the atmosphere 
and the hydrogen obtained from the soil moisture, which in 
turn is, under humid conditions, constantly being replenished 
by the rainfall. The farmer, therefore, need not concern him- 
self with these three elements. 



25 



CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

Iron is used by the plant in such extremely minute quanti- 
ties, and the supply in the soil is so large, that it need never 
be added to the soil as a plant food. While the plant require- 
ments for sulfur are rather large and the supply in the soil 
comparatively small, the amount added to the soil by rainfall 
is adequate, not only to meet the needs of the plant but also 
to offset the loss in the soil thru drainage. 

There remain, then, as Doctor Hopkins stated, five elements 
of plant food which must receive careful consideration by the 
farmer in the construction of any system of permanent soil 
fertility that may be proposed. These are calcium, magnesium, 
potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen. Since there is no nat- 
ural provision for the restoration of these elements to the 
soil when once removed by crops, a system which assumes 
to be permanent must provide for their return, unless as some- 
times happens, they are present in the soil in unusual quanti- 
ties sufficient to provide for the maximum production of crops 
for indefinite periods of time. 

The inorganic plant foods — calcium, magnesium, potas- 
sium, and phosphorus — are removed by the plants in compara- 
tively large quantities. Chemical analyses have shown that 
an ordinary rotation of wheat, corn, oats, and clover removes, 
per acre, in the maximum production of crops, 77 pounds of 
phosphorus, 320 pounds of potassium, 68 pounds of mag- 
nesium, and 168 pounds of calcium. Since these elements are 
obtained by the plant entirely from the soil. Doctor Hopkins 
recognized the fundamental importance of knowing the 
amounts of these materials which occur in the soil and of deter- 
mining their relation to the requirements of crops. 

Various chemical methods have been proposed from time 
to time for analyzing the soil. Most of these have been based 
upon the fantastic claim that they determine the available 
plant food in the soil. Doctor Hopkins, however, early real- 
ized the futility of such a claim, and concerned himself only 
with the determination of the total amount of plant food in 

26 



PERMANENT SOIL FERTILITY 

the soil. He used chemical analysis as a means of taking in- 
voice, as he was wont to say, of these substances within the 
soil just as the merchant takes an invoice of the goods upon 
his shelves. Whether or not the proper use is made of this 
plant food depends largely upon the kind of farming the 
farmer carries on, just as it depends upon the business ability 
of the merchant whether or not his business is successful. 
Again and again Doctor Hopkins urged that an accurate in- 
voice of stock with which to work is as absolute a necessity 
for the farmer as it is for the merchant. 

The chemical analysis of the soils of Illinois made with 
this idea in mind at once showed a marked variation in the 
amount of the various essential plant foods present in the soil. 
Phosphorus, for instance, as measured in a typical area of 
brown silt loam in the corn belt was found to be the most 
limited element, not only as measured by the absolute amounts 
present but also as measured by crop requirements. While 
the supply of calcium present was found to be sufficient, as 
Doctor Hopkins expressed it, for the production of a 100- 
bushel crop of corn annually for ninety centuries, the supply 
of magnesium sufficient for thirteen centuries, and the supply 
of potassium sufficient for eighteen centuries, the supply of 
phosphorus was found to be sufficient for only sixty-two years. 
Such illustrations are very significant in their emphasis of 
the importance of providing for prosphorus in a system that is 
to insure permanent and maximum crop production. 

The problem connected with the fifth element, nitrogen, is, 
in the words of Doctor Hopkins, "the most important prac- 
tical problem confronting the American farmer." Nitrogen is 
required by crops in large quantities, while the supply in the 
soil is markedly limited, and this element, if purchased on the 
markets of the world, is the highest priced of all the plant- 
food materials. A hundred pounds of nitrogen is required 
for every 100 bushels of corn, and nitrogen at present sells for 
thirty cents a pound. At such a prohibitive price the farmer 

27 



CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

cannot afford to purchase commercial nitrogen for the pro- 
duction of his common farm crops. Doctor Hopkins therefore 
taught the necessity of depending upon legume nitrogen, which 
is obtained by clovers, alfalfa, soybeans, etc., by the aid of 
symbiotic bacteria from the inexhaustible supply in the air, 
provided the soil conditions are favorable to their growth and 
development. In the Illinois system of permanent soil fer- 
tility he provided not only that a legume occur in each rota- 
tion but that the legume hay or chaff produced be carefully 
conserved and returned to the soil, either as farm manure or 
green manure crops. Further, he urged that the utmost use 
be made of legume cover crops grown in connection with the 
production of wheat and other cereals. 

In the development of this use of legume cover crops the 
research work of Doctor Hopkins is particularly outstanding. 
Sweet clover was a favorite crop with him for this purpose and 
he was among the first to call attention to its great possibilities. 

Unfortunately, legumes, so essential for soil improvement, 
cannot be successfully grown on many soils in Illinois, as they 
now exist, because of their acid condition, the acidity fre- 
quently being so great as to prevent absolutely the growth 
of legumes. Limestone is of fundamental importance in soil 
fertility. That a limestone soil is a rich soil is an age-old 
truth. Thruout the world soils that have become famous for 
their persistent fertility are limestone soils. This is true of 
the soils of the far western United States, of the blue-grass 
regions of Kentucky, of the valley of the Nile, and of the 
black soils of India and Russia. Unfortunately, limestone is 
of all soil constituents probably the most readily lost in drain- 
age water, and hence humid soils are as a rule deficient in 
this essential constituent. The first principle of soil fertility 
is that limestone must be added to those soils in which it is 
not already present. While the limestone is added primarily 
for the purpose of creating conditions favorable to the growth 
of the necessary legume crops, it also has markedly favorable 

28 



PERMANENT SOIL FERTILITY 

action in increasing the yields of the cereal crops in the rota- 
tion. In addition to overcoming the acidity of the soil, lime- 
stone provides the necessary calcium and magnesium as plant 
foods. 

Various forms and kinds of limestone materials are avail- 
able, but the work of Doctor Hopkins has clearly demonstrated 
that the most economic form to use is the finely ground nat- 
ural limestone — the natural material occurring in the soil. The 
abundance of data obtained by him from various experimental 
fields, particularly in southern Illinois, provides the best infor- 
mation the world now affords regarding the great benefit from 
the use of limestone for the production of common farm crops. 

In most normal soils, such as the brown silt loam of the 
corn belt, potassium occurs in such large quantities that it will 
be sufficient for the maximum production of crops for indefi- 
nite periods of time. Hence in the case of potassium Doctor 
Hopkins has pointed out that the problem of the farmer is not 
one of addition, but rather of the liberation of this element 
from the insoluble compounds contained in the soil. In both 
the live-stock and the grain systems of farming, his provision 
for the turning under of freshly decomposing organic matter 
insures, in normal soils, a sufficient amount of available potas- 
sium to meet the requirements of crops for this element. The 
results obtained from various experimental fields have shown 
clearly that when used on such soils potassium not only does 
not pay for itself but gives little actual increased yield. 

Certain abnormal types of soil, however, are deficient in 
potassium. Such soils are peaty soils and soils deficient in 
organic matter. On peaty soils, potassium is the limiting ele- 
ment of plant food and is often the limiting factor of crop 
production. The addition of potassium, therefore, on such 
soils is an absolute necessity. On soils deficient in organic 
matter, such as many of those occurring in southern Illinois, 
potassium may be used with profitable results until the soil 
has been built up in its organic-matter content. 

2P 



CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

On normal soils phosphorus is frequently the limiting ele- 
ment of crop production. Various forms of phosphorus are 
available for supplying this deficiency, such as barnyard ma- 
nure, steamed bone meal, basic slag, acid phosphate, and raw 
rock phosphate. In the Illinois system of permanent soil fer- 
tility, Doctor Hopkins provided for the abundant use of finely 
ground rock phosphate, since a wealth of experimental data 
from the fields maintained by the University has proved con- 
clusively that, except under special conditions, this form may 
be used with considerable profit and with much less expense 
than the other forms, altho there may be special conditions 
under which some of the other forms are desirable. 

There are two well defined types of farming occurring in 
Illinois, the grain system and the live-stock system. Both of 
these are perfectly legitimate, proper, and profitable systems 
of farming. Both of these types, moreover, are absolutely 
essential to the development of the highest stage of civiliza- 
tion ; as long as man demands bread, butter, meat, and milk, 
and until we are willing that our standards of living should 
be lowered, both types must exist. Doctor Hopkins recog- 
nized this fact, and in the Illinois system of permanent soil 
fertility made provision for the maintenance of fertility on a 
permanent and profitable basis on both the live-stock and the 
grain farm. In either type of farming, limestone and phos- 
phates must be used in order that the growth of legumes, so 
essential both in soil improvement and in the feeding of live 
stock, may be made possible. 

While Doctor Hopkins took particular pains to point out 
and emphasize the possibility of maintaining the fertility of 
the soil on the grain farm on a permanent and profitable basis, 
he also made important contributions to our knowledge re- 
garding methods of maintaining the fertility of the live-stock 
farm. His teachings in this respect are of tremendous im- 
portance since they provide for the extension of live-stock 
farming to large areas where heretofore the proper feeds could 

30 



PERMANENT SOIL FERTILITY 

not be produced. On all the experimental fields of the Uni- 
versity just one-half of the work is devoted to the maintenance 
of soil fertility in live-stock farming. The live-stock farmers 
of Illinois should have a deep sense of gratitude to Doctor 
Hopkins for his work in their behalf. 

If a system is to be permanent, the materials removed from 
the soil must be returned at least in the proportion in which 
they are removed by natural processes, including- the amount 
removed by the crop and the amount lost in the drainage 
water. This would seem to be such a simple axiomatic truth 
that it need not be dwelt on ; however, it is a point which must 
be constantly emphasized. For years Doctor Hopkins has 
protested against the use of the complete commercial fertilizer 
to supply soil deficiencies. He pointed out that the use of 
two or three hundred pounds of an ordinary commercial fer- 
tilizer of a 2-10-2 grade, which adds only five or six pounds 
of nitrogen, could act only as a soil stimulant ; for, if increased 
crops are obtained by its use, they can be had only at the ex- 
pense of the nitrogen already in the soil, since the requirement 
for a 100-bushel crop of corn is 100 pounds of nitrogen. The 
Illinois system of permanent soil fertility, therefore, condemns 
in unmeasured terms the use of such soil stimulants, among 
which must be classified ordinary commercial fertilizers and 
gypsum. 

In the briefest way possible, the very essential points un- 
derlying the Illinois system of permanent soil fertility as 
worked out by Doctor Hopkins have thus been merely touched 
upon. But it is the desire at this point to emphasize the fact 
which Doctor Hopkins reiterated that the Illinois system of 
permanent soil fertility rests upon a sane and safe scientific 
basis, and, because it makes abundant use of cheap, natural, 
raw products, such as legume nitrogen and finely ground lime- 
stone and rock phosphate, it is both a permanent and profitable 
system of soil fertility. This is the heritage to the Illinois 
farmers left by him in whose memory we have met to-day. 

31 



THE PRACTICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE 

ILLINOIS SYSTEM OF PERMANENT 

AGRICULTURE 

By EALPH ALLEN 
Member of the University Soil Advisory Committee 

TO help us realize the magnitude of Doctor Hopkins' work 
in investigation, let us make a little comparison. Before 
his time the great source of agricultural knowledge was at 
Rothamsted ; and when we consider that here the soil investi- 
gation was virtually confined to one farm of less than sixty 
acres, that before this time investigations had been practically 
limited to two or three men, that the Rothamsted investigation 
was in one place and in one climate, and yet produced results 
which changed agricultural thought and agricultural advance- 
ment; and then when we consider the scope of Doctor Hop- 
kins* researches, that they involved not the soils of a farm but 
of a great state, of a varied climate, that they included the 
soils of almost the extremes in type, from sand to peat and 
from the rich, .black soils found in the corn belt of this state 
to the other extreme of what are known as the post-oak soils 
of the south almost devoid of fertility, that his researches cov- 
ered the physical as well as the chemical and even the biolog- 
ical phases of the soil, that his fields of investigation were 
located on lands so eroded that they were practically aban- 
doned for agriculture, that they involved soils which were 
almost impossible of drainage, and from those extremes to the 
very best land of Illinois — then we find the great range of the 
research within which Doctor Hopkins' fields brought him. 

Doctor Hopkins not only covered this wide field, but he 
undertook what no other man had attempted — he undertook 
to show the farmer how he could make practical use of all 
that had been learned from the study of soils. He taught 
him the various elements of fertility of the soil and how some 
of them are found in the air, and some in the soil upon his 

32 



PERMANENT SOIL FERTILITY 

own farm, and others at remote places ; and he showed the 
farmer how these could be brought together and utilized for 
the increase of crops. He instituted a system of chemical 
analysis of soils which made it possible for every farmer in 
the state to know the chemical analysis of the soils on his 
farm, even tho his farm might contain as many as three or 
four different kinds of soil ; and having this knowledge, he 
could then restore the lacking elements of fertility. 

Doctor Hopkins went further than this. He established 
in Illinois a series of experiment fields for the purpose of in- 
vestigating the problems of soil fertility. These fields were 
not only a means of investigation but they served also as a 
means of demonstration to the farmers of the state. They 
were located on every large type of soil in Illinois — on the 
sandy soils, on the peaty soils, on black clay loam, and in fact 
on every kind of soil found in any large area in this state. 

The experiments carried out in these fields have proven 
different things. They have proven the possibility of perma- 
nent agriculture. They have proven that land which is not 
treated — not rationally treated — and which is cropped year 
after year, gradually grows poorer and poorer the longer it is 
farmed. On the other hand, these fields have proven that these 
lands, when properly treated by the addition of the elements 
of fertility which are not supplied in any other way except 
by the effort of man, gradually grow more and more fertile 
with each rotation the longer the system of soil feeding is 
continued. I have visited these fields at the beginning of the 
undertaking, and in some of them it seemed almost hopeless 
that profitable crops could be raised ; and then with the next 
rotation of crops I would see an improvement in those parts 
of the fields properly treated ; and with succeeding rotations 
I would see them becoming still better until they were large- 
yielding and profitable fields. 

Another thing these fields have shown is that a rational 
soil treatment is a sort of insurance of crops; that is, they 

33 



CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

have shown that in bad seasons a crop may be grown on a 
well treated field, whereas on a poorly treated or untreated 
field no crop, or at most a very poor crop, will be grown. It 
seems almost incredible that soil treatment could act as an 
insurance against insects, drouth, and even against storms; 
and yet I have seen fields in which the untreated parts were 
so infested with insects that the normal yield was practically 
cut in two, whereas on the treated fields — the properly treated 
fields — a normal crop was produced. On fields on which there 
had been almost no rainfall I have seen the crop entirely dead 
on those parts of the field which had had no soil treatment, 
whereas on those parts of the field which had received a 
rational soil treatment the crop was not only living but was 
producing a good yield. And following the hard wind and 
rain storms we have in Illinois which beat the crops flat to 
the ground, I have seen the crops on those parts of the fields 
which received no treatment so flattened down that they could 
never rise, while on those parts of the field which were re- 
ceiving treatment the crops, while somewhat beaten down, 
straightened up and made a good yield. I have seen these 
things. 

One other line of activity was taken up by Doctor Hopkins 
in his soil investigations, and that was the soil survey of Illi- 
nois. Among the first questions which arose when the soil 
investigations were begun were : What are the soils of Illi- 
nois? What are the different kinds that are found here? 
Where are the different kinds found, and what makes the dif- 
ference between one kind and another? In order to answer 
these questions the soil survey of the state was begun. County 
by county the soils have been analyzed, the various types lo- 
cated, and their boundaries definitely defined, and in the re- 
ports of this survey is the key to the farmer to all the In- 
formation obtained by Doctor Hopkins in his investigations. 
Soil maps have been made which are so accurate that, know- 
ing the range, the section, and the fraction of the section 

34 



PERMANENT SOIL FERTILITY 

which describes his farm, the farmer can refer to the map of 
his county and learn the types of soil on his farm and their 
exact boundaries. In fact, these maps are so accurate that one 
had better trust them than his own judgment in the purchase 
of a farm. I know I would a great deal rather. In these re- 
ports he will find the chemical composition of his soils — of 
the surface soil, of the subsurface, and even of the subsoil. 
Not only that, he can learn the treatment which these differ- 
ent kinds of soil require for the maximum production of crops. 
I might say that before the soil survey was begun, before the 
farmers knew how to distinguish between the soil of one farm 
and that of another, there was great confusion. For instance, 
if a farmer was recommended to put potassium on his land 
he might do so and get immediate results, a thing which has 
been done, but that fact would be published far and wide — 
not the fact that potassium should be put on peat land but 
that potassium was a good fertilizer. Then one hundred others 
would apply potassium and get no result. But now if a 
farmer has peaty land he knows what to apply to get results 
in increased yields but he does not apply potassium to sandy 
or clay land. He knows enough to distinguish between the 
one and the other. 

The best part of all this soil investigation is this : that as 
a result of it the farmers themselves are putting into practice 
the very things that Doctor Hopkins has recommended, and 
are getting identically the same results that he got on the ex- 
perimental fields. What does this mean? The flight of 
imagination cannot express what it means. It means, in a 
word, increased crops to the farmer, but that is not all. It 
means more food for those who are not farmers. Every ex- 
cess bushel of wheat that is produced by you on your farm 
means the pushing back farther and farther of the famine area. 

So firm was Doctor Hopkins in his conviction that the 
poorest land could be made to yield large and profitable crops 
that he hunted out the most barren piece of land in the state 

35 



CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

that he could find — a farm in southern Illinois which had been 
abandoned for five years — purchased it, and named it "Poor- 
land Farm." I discussed with him at the time the profitable- 
ness of the venture, arguing that he would make a good deal 
more money if he would buy a farm in central Illinois, but 
he had a different idea. He asserted that he would make that 
farm produce yields equal to those of the corn belt. This 
was a great boast to make for southern Illinois lands, but he 
made it good. Ten years later he had produced thirty-five 
bushels of wheat to the acre and it was then that he wrote 
that great circular "Bread from Stones." It was literally true 
that he had grown bread from stones, for it was a yield which 
was due alone to the application of the raw rock phosphate 
of Tennessee and the limestone of Illinois. Since then these 
yields have been surpassed by those of which any corn-belt 
farmer would be proud. But it is not just what Doctor Hop- 
kins has done on this one farm that is of so much value, but 
rather the possibilities it has shown to the many. By fol- 
lowing the practices put into effect on Poorland Farm, any 
other man on the same kind of land can secure the same re- 
sults. I know of one man in southern Illinois who has put 
the teachings of Doctor Hopkins into practice and has got 
over fifty bushels of wheat to the acre, a yield which would 
be a credit to any farmer in Illinois. 

When I speak of these things — of what Doctor Hopkins 
has done and the farmers who have practiced his teachings 
have done — you can begin to see the possibilities and signifi- 
cance of his work. I have become convinced that there is not 
a foot of the ground in Illinois or perhaps anywhere else but 
that could be made to produce the very largest crops and made 
to produce them profitably to the farmer. As I think of these 
possibilities, it seems to me that the only limit to food pro- 
duction and the human life resulting from food production is 
simply this — the limits of human knowledge and human labor, 
and to both of these how largely has our Doctor Hopkins 
contributed. 

36 



DOCTOR HOPKINS, THE TRUE TEACHER OF 
THE SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE 

By BROTHER LEO 
Superintendent of the Farm, University of Notre Dame 

WE, the farmers of the middle western states are in deep 
mourning. In the death of Doctor Cyril G. Hopkins we 
have lost our greatest agricultural teacher and scientist. A 
great servant of the people has passed away. A man with a 
noble soul, a broad mind, wholly unselfish, a true friend of the 
farmers, and a deep thinker, he fearlessly spoke the truth in 
defiance of opposition. As he once said, "You may trample 
the truth into the earth but it will rise again." 

I knew Doctor Hopkins personally ; the news of his death 
is grief to me. I was the recipient of his valuable knowledge 
relative to building up depleted lands. 

It has been said that from a productive standpoint some 
men are too scientific to be practical. This was not true of 
Doctor Hopkins. While he was deeply scientific, his scientific 
knowledge was applicable to all. His profound simplicity 
coupled with accuracy was one of his many outstanding vir- 
tues. A self-sacrificing, untiring worker, he labored to the 
very end. The state of Illinois, and other states as well, have 
been made richer in agricultural knowledge brought about by 
the persistent experiments and study of Doctor Hopkins. 

While Illinois had the first right to the use of the services 
of Doctor Hopkins, Indiana has also come in for her fair share 
of the fruits of the practical and workable facts pertaining 
to soil fertility and crop production, first promulgated by him. 

Doctor Hopkins' life work is ended. We bow our heads in 
humble submission to the providential decree of God who has 
called from this life a humble servant of the people. May his 
soul rest in peace. 



THE CULMINATING YEAR IN THE LIFE OF 
DOCTOR HOPKINS 

By GEORGE BOUYOUCOS 

Michigan Agricultural College. Captain in American Red Cross 

Commission to Greece 

ON September 20, 1918, I received a letter from the one 
whom we commemorate today, informing me that he had 
accepted a call to go to Greece to help rejuvenate the agricul- 
ture of that country and asking me if I would join him. You 
can all imagine, of course, what my answer was. A few days 
later I received a telegram requesting me to prepare to meet 
him in Chicago after two days. When I met him in Chicago 
I found him very serious but full of joy and enthusiasm, the 
reasons for which he soon confided to me. They were two : 
first, that he had an opportunity to take a more active and 
direct part in helping win the war; and second, that he was 
going to study the soils of that old country which have been 
farmed for thousands of years, to ascertain in what condition 
they were and to see what he could do to make them produce 
more quickly and permanently. 

Doctor Hopkins immediately applied himself to learning 
the Greek language with a rare enthusiasm and great intensity, 
and by the time we arrived in Greece he had already made 
notable progress in it. 

On our arrival in Greece he entered upon his work at once 
with a boundless enthusiasm and interest, passionate devotion, 
intense concentration, and ceaseless labor. 

His greatness as a scientist, his love for the truth, his con- 
scienciousness and practicability are further revealed by the 
plan he followed in performing his monumental work in 
Greece. He absolutely refused to give advice or to make rec- 
ommendations regarding the soils of Greece until he had made 
a thoro and scientific investigation of them. Accordingly, he 
instituted as thoro and extensive scientific study of the soils of 

38 



THE CULMINATING YEAR 

the country as the time at his disposal permitted. He applied 
four different methods in examining the soils of the country: 
(1) personal examination, (2) chemical analysis, (3) pot- 
culture experiments, and (4) field experiments. He visited 
and examined personally all the most important soil areas in 
Greece, collected over three thousand single soil samples, 
which were combined into about one hundred composite sam- 
ples and were analyzed chemically, and he conducted many 
series of pot-culture experiments and several field experiments 
in different parts of the country. After he had obtained scien- 
tific results from these various studies and had acquired a 
practical knowledge of the agricultural conditions of the coun- 
try he wrote a little book containing advice to the farmers and 
giving recommendations to the Government. This book was 
sent free to nearly all the farmers in Greece. Almost two hun- 
dred thousand copies were printed and distributed. 

He outlined to the farmers systems of agriculture by which 
their land could be made to produce infinitely more and per- 
manently and at the same time permanently retain its fertility. 
He recommended to the Government educational systems of 
agriculture and ways in which it could render direct and 
immediate help to the farmers. This report is a masterpiece. 
He poured into it the cream of his wonderful knowledge and 
rich experience. It is his culminating work and will always 
stand as one of the greatest monuments to him. 

He did all this tremendous amount of work in the short 
space of ten months. It was a gigantic task; one that only 
Doctor Hopkins could have performed, for he was blessed with 
perfect health and a remarkable power of endurance both 
physical and mental. He was possessed of a wonderful ability 
for mental concentration, with remarkably efficient methods of 
work, with a great love for work, and with the most magnifi- 
cent spirit, love, and ambition for rendering service. He 
worked unceasingly and with intensity and never seemed to 



39 



CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

be fatigued. His endurance, energy, and activity seemed to 
be without limit, and always he seemed under inspiration. 

The conditions under which he performed his notable work 
were very strenuous, trying, and full of discomfort, but he 
never complained. Whenever I complained, he would say, 
"They could be worse." Never was he melancholy, unhappy, 
or pessimistic. He was a real and true soldier. 

Doctor Hopkins was a great lover of nature, a keen and in- 
quisitive observer, and was endowed to a high degree with a 
sense of humor. Amid his labors he took time to climb many 
mountains and delighted his heart with the works of nature. 
He was always alert and observed everything. He was quick 
and keen to see the humorous side of life and took great delight 
in telling humorous stories. I have never known a man who 
had such an inexhaustible supply of stories of the highest 
quality. I believe there was nothing he said which he could 
not illustrate with a story. 

Doctor Hopkins was a modest, unselfish, and democratic 
man. The Greek Government offered to set aside a special 
car for him to travel and the municipal authorities in the 
different cities of Greece requested the Government to notify 
them what day Doctor Hopkins would arrive at their re- 
spective cities so that they could receive him officially and 
entertain and honor him. Doctor Hopkins, however, always 
declined these and similar offers. He would go quietly into 
a region, do his work, and when he was ready to leave he 
would go and pay his respects to the mayor or governor and 
then depart. 

Doctor Hopkins was a kindly man, gentle, sympathetic, 
considerate, courteous, congenial, tolerant, lovable, and a most 
wonderful companion. His moral and ethical standards were 
unexcelled. He was clean, straight, sincere, loyal, and honest. 
He always followed and practiced the motto never to do any- 
thing that he could not honestly justify. The people of 
Greece admired him, loved him, idolized him, and worshipped 

40 



THE CULMINATING YEAR 

him. They thought that he was not a man, but a god and a 
saint. 

Doctor Hopkins' work is of incalculable value to Greece. 
Its effects and possibilities are great and profound. Greece 
is essentially an agricultural country, its prosperity mainly 
depending on its agricultural products, and yet its land has 
become so poor and unproductive that most of the time it does 
not produce even the seed sown, and the nation is compelled to 
import from other countries most of its cereal grains for bread. 
Doctor Hopkins was the first man in the history of the nation 
to study its soils. He discovered by scientific methods the 
cause of the infertility and unproductivity of these soils, and 
with his rare ability, remarkable knowledge, and great prac- 
ticability, he worked out methods of agriculture by which 
these soils could be made fertile and productive, to remain so 
for all time to come. He has thus made it possible for the 
Greek nation to produce its own food to feed its people, and to 
be prosperous and happy thru the coming generations. His 
work and its benefits will be permanent and lasting. Con- 
sidering what agriculture is to a nation and especially to 
Greece, Doctor Hopkins' service to Greek agriculture will 
make his name go down in Greek history as one of the greatest 
if not the greatest benefactors of Greece. 

The Greek people and the Government recognized and 
appreciated his lasting service with grateful hearts. The 
Government conferred upon him the highest decoration in its 
power to bestow, that of the Order of Our Savior, and sought 
to retain his services for a number of years. The Greek Prim^e 
Minister, who was at that time attending the Peace Confer- 
ence in Paris, sent three different telegrams to his Govern- 
ment requesting it to try to secure the services of Doctor Hop- 
kins for a number of years under any terms. 

Great is his loss to this country and especially to Illinois. 
Still greater it is to Greece because she needed him more. 



41 



DOCTOR HOPKINS, THE PUBLIC SERVANT 

By DAVID KINLEY 
Acting President, University of Illinois 

THE common test of greatness is power. When the world 
records its estimate of a man's greatness it has usually, 
whether expressly or by implication, whether consciously or 
unconsciously, sought an answer to its question by asking a 
second question — What was the extent of his authority or 
power? 

Look thru the pages of history, as history is usually 
written, for the names of those who in the past have been 
esteemed great and you will find a record of conquerors and 
slaves and devastators ; of men who have built up great per- 
sonal power on the basis of force which in some way or other 
has come under their command. It is the conquering kings 
of Assyria and Babylonia and Egypt; it is Darius and Xerxes 
and Alexander; Caesar, Napoleon, and Marlborough and their 
like whose names are written in large letters on the records of 
mankind as making up the category of the great. We have 
measured their greatness by the number of people whose lives 
and actions they could control, by the territory they conquered, 
by the number of those whose lives they were able to direct, 
and, indeed, to destroy. It is true that many of these so-called 
great, in exercising their power and establishing their author- 
ity over their fellowmen, have been inspired by beneficent pur- 
poses and have actually accomplished beneficent results. Yet 
it is only in moments of repose or pleasant rumination that 
we think of the beneficent results of their actions as the cause 
or evidence of their greatness instead of the extent of their 
authority. We class Alexander and Caesar among the great, 
but we do not class with them — certainly not in the same 
sense — Aristides or Pasteur. We admit, of course, that they 
were great men, but only in the sense that they were dis- 
tinguished men. The word "great" in cases like theirs has no 

42 



THE PUBLIC SERVANT 

significance. In short, we have been so long accustomed to 
associate the idea of greatness with extent of mere authority 
or power over men that we have difficulty in associating it 
closely with the idea of service to men. 

Yet true greatness is to be determined in character and 
measured in extent by the amount of service which a man in 
his life work renders to humanity. True, we will all agree in 
a measure with the thought when thus broadly put. We 
admit, when pressed, that to call those who have had extensive 
authority, great for that reason alone, is savage, if not wicked. 
But all thru the years and the generations and the centuries 
this idea of greatness because of service has had only a dim 
and wavering and interrupted acceptance in the minds of men. 
Its recognition is clearer and wider today than it ever was be- 
fore, yet we cannot be sure even now that this wider recogni- 
tion and readier acceptance of the idea will be any more perma- 
nent than in previous generations. We hope so. If it is not, it 
will mean that the progress of mankind is checked again so far 
as the attainment of cultural and civilized ideals is concerned. 

The explanation of the anomaly in our moral attitude, as 
described above, is of course not far to seek. The beneficial 
results of the service of man to his kind are likely to be seen 
only after his own generation has passed away. The effects 
of the exercise of power and authority, on the other hand, are 
evident in the present. We see and feel them before we see 
and feel the effects of good service. We can measure the 
effects of true greatness only after the lapse of a long period ; 
yet the estimate of the character and attribute of an individual 
is usually determined, in the first instance at any rate, by the 
people of his own generation. The slowly accumulating bene- 
fits of goodly influence and quiet service make less impression 
in the minds of men than does the spectacular and startling 
immediate display of power. 

Not unconnected with the line of thought that I have just 
brought out is the common attitude of the citizens of a democ- 

43 



CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

racy toward its servants. In a democracy jealousy of the 
growth and exercise of power by individual citizens not infre- 
quently prevents the community from securing the services of 
people best fitted to render them, and always finds expression 
in distrust, suspicion, and depreciation of those who serve 
them. The statement, if not the belief, that every public officer 
should be distrusted, that he is out for his own advantage, 
that he will utilize his office for his personal gain, and that he 
will not render honest service, is too common to need proof. 
Indeed, so common are the statement and belief that some- 
times decent men hesitate to put themselves in the service of 
the public. 

This same fear of the people of a democracy that some 
individuals will become too prominent, or too powerful, has 
led the people to be content too often with the services of 
inferior men. We are not willing to pay enough in most pub- 
lic offices to get first-class men. The view is too commonly 
held that the public officer in receiving his salary is a benefi- 
ciary of the taxpayers. The view is wrong to the officer and 
to the people, and insulting to the intelligence of both. A pub- 
lic officer is no more the charitable beneficiary of the taxpayers 
than is the manager of a cotton mill the charitable beneficiary 
of its owner. He draws his pay because he gives an equivalent 
for it ; in many cases he gives far more than an equivalent, 
especially if the service he renders is a service that he loves. 

What I have said regarding the public servant applies in 
the double sense in which the phrase may be used. We com- 
monly think of a public servant as one who is in the official 
employ of the government — that is to say, of the people in the 
government. With reference to Professor Hopkins, however, 
I am using the term in a somewhat double sense. He was a 
public servant in that he was an employe of a state institution ; 
he was a public servant in the unofficial sense that he was in 
a real way a servant of the people. One does not need to be 
an officer of the government in order to be a servant of the 

44 



THE PUBLIC SERVANT 

people, altho every officer of the government is, and ought to 
be, a servant of the people in the sense that he renders them 
service. It is with the work of Professor Hopkins as a servant 
of the people that I am concerned tonight. It is because he 
has given service of high character, wide in its influence, 
promoting the welfare of his fellow men that, for my present 
purposes, I call him a servant of the people, rather than be- 
cause he was an officer in a state college or a state experi- 
ment station. Had he had no such official connection, he might 
have been a servant of the people. Being a servant in both 
senses, he is a conspicuous example of the public officer, the 
individual commonly criticized, depreciated, discounted, and 
attacked, who, notwithstanding these disadvantages, loyally 
discharges his duty and quietly, cheerfully, and gladly gives 
his fellow men the benefit of the talent that he has. It is with 
this thought that I am chiefly concerned at present, and with 
the lesson that it has for you and me. 

You have listened to an account of the greatness and im- 
portance of Professor Hopkins' work from the scientific point 
of view, and from the point of view of the public welfare. 
You have been told and have thought about the addition to the 
wealth of the state, or the prevention of loss to the people of 
the state, which his scientific discoveries and his practical appli- 
cations of them have brought. In your minds you have meas- 
ured, in bushels of corn per year for a generation, the addi- 
tions to, or the prevention of the loss of, the fertility of the 
flat prairie soil of Illinois. You have counted up, in your 
minds, the abandoned lands that Hopkins' studies have en- 
abled, or will enable, the state and the world to restore to 
fertility. You have imaged the teeming thousands yet un- 
born who will have a source of livelihood from those added 
acres, or from the prevention of the destruction of the fertility 
of acres now being used in Illinois, in America, in Greece, in 
the world. For there will, in the future, be many a man and 
woman living whose existence will have been made possible 

45 



CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

by the maintenance of fertility or by its increase. On the basis 
of the present value of corn, you have calculated in millions of 
dollars the annual addition to our state income thru Hopkins' 
discoveries. You have seen the corn kernel modified as a 
result of his studies so as to give us a product varying in 
character according to our wishes, and so have seen, in your 
minds, the needs of men better met as a result. 

But with all this I propose tonight to have nothing to do, 
and about it I have nothing to say. My purpose is only to fix 
your attention as members of a democratic people upon the 
attitude, the frame of mind, the spirit that Professor Hopkins 
brought to his work, and in which he did his work. For the 
cultivation and extension of that spirit among the members 
of a democracy so that it shall become the general attitude 
and the general spirit, will, in the long run, be of greater ad- 
vantage than will all the material results of the scientific 
achievements of Cyril G. Hopkins. So far as his influence and 
example lead us to adopt his attitude and spirit and method, 
he will be doing his countrymen and the world still another 
service of a different character from, but no less important 
than, the service that he rendered thru his scientific achieve- 
ments. For his attitude, his spirit, and his example loudly pro- 
claim to us the necessity of substituting the ideal of service for 
the ideal of personal gain in our dealings with our fellow men. 

What, then, was this spirit of service as shown in Pro- 
fessor Hopkins' career? As a servant of the people he was a 
teacher and an investigator. In his research work he sub- 
ordinated his own gain to the love of his work and the good 
he was trying to do. Undoubtedly he could have made a large 
income if he had been willing to put his talents at the service 
of private individuals or corporations, but he thought of the 
good of the community. His fellow citizens were dear to him ; 
he wanted them to live well ; he wanted the next generation to 
enjoy the benefit of the natural wealth that God has given this 
generation. To that end he sacrificed his personal ambition 

46 



THE PUBLIC SERVANT 

so far as that might have been gratified by fortune. Like 
others who are moved by this spirit, he was the object of 
criticism and attack by individuals whose private interests 
were crossed by his plans for public benefit. As is not unusual 
in the experience of men, even those whom he sought to bene- 
fit were at times indifferent, at times scornful, of what he was 
trying to do for them, but he labored on in the faith that his 
work would be justified in the end. In the end he won recog- 
nition, affection, praise, esteem, distinction. That we are here 
tonight is evidence of the truth of this statement. Our meet- 
ing is testimony to the truth of the proposition that a life of 
service is, after all, when its purpose, its spirit, and its fruits 
are understood by the people, a life of greatness. Our meet- 
ing is testimony of our belief that, in a democracy at any rate, 
the truest and greatest individual is the one who most truly 
serves. For it is a great sociological and economic truth, as 
well as a spiritual one, that in our relations with one another 
"he that seeketh his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his 
life" for the sake of his fellow men, shall save it, and he that 
would be greatest among us, must be the servant of us all. 

The promotion of the spirit of service was never more 
important in the history of human affairs than it is today. We 
are told that the present generation is having a new outlook 
on life ; that there is a changed spirit in the world. We are 
told that we are in the midst of a great revolution in our aims 
and ideals and spirit. For myself I do not think so, if by that 
statement is meant that we are having a new spirit or new 
ideals or new aims. The spirit and aims and ideals of men 
have always been for the uplifting of one another, but the 
means that they have chosen at one time have differed from 
those they have chosen at another time. Under some condi- 
tions the greatest progress in civilization was made by the 
stimulation of individual ambition for personal gain ; under 
others, the greatest progress is made by greater recognition 
of the mutual dependence of men on one another. As eco- 

47 



CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

nomic and political conditions have changed, the emphasis has 
been thrown from one point of view to another. Today we 
are throwing the emphasis from the point of view of the in- 
dividualistic philosophy of the nineteenth century to that of 
the philosophy of greater interdependence and the necessity of 
greater mutual service. For there is an eternal conflict be- 
tween individual selfishness and duty to one's fellow men. We 
have been long accustomed to think that we were serving our 
fellow men by pushing forward our own personal ambitions. 
In a sense, this is true, but there is a limit to the truth of the 
statement. It is also true, and under the conditions that obtain 
in the world today it is truer, that each of us will gain, or at 
least is more likely to gain, our greatest individual success in 
proportion as we contribute largely to the general welfare. In 
other words, the motto on which we must lay our emphasis 
today is "Success thru service." The teacher, the investigator, 
the lawyer, the merchant, the farmer, the doctor, and the 
preacher must all recognize the necessity of giving their best 
efforts and their greatest service to their communities if they 
are to reap the richest rewards in individual fortune, individual 
distinction, and individual esteem. 

The spirit of Hopkins, then, is the spirit that the problems 
of the day are calling on us to show. The time of the sway 
of the legal phrase "Let the buyer beware" must pass away 
and be succeeded by the time in which each bargainer and 
each worker in common shall recognize it as his duty and as 
the path to his highest individual fortune and distinction to 
contribute as largely as he can to the common weal. It may 
be only by honest work of an ordinary kind. It may be by the 
exercise of unusual talent and the contribution of some new 
idea or matter or method to human progress, as in the case of 
Hopkins. However our contribution is made, it must be first 
of all a contribution that promotes the interest of all, and our 
share of the welfare will be greater the greater the measure of 
our contribution. 



THE PUBLIC SERVANT 

In our haste to win what we think success, most of us take 
the direct method and the short road. Putting the matter ex- 
tremely, it is quicker to steal a fortune than to produce one. 
It is quicker to get rich by sharp practices and unscrupulous 
business methods than by friendly practices and honest meth- 
ods. But we must realize more and more that, in a democracy 
at any rate, the largest rewards will come to be given more 
and more — rewards both of fortune and reputation — to those 
who are the greatest servants of all. Therefore, he who would 
succeed most largely must choose the indirect method himself, 
serve his fellow men, and get his personal gain as a reward 
instead of seeking to achieve it without rendering service, or 
at least, without rendering as great a service as he can. 

The spread and continuance of this spirit of service will be 
the best solution for the discontent and the excitement of our 
day. Broadly speaking, the present conflict of ideas, the pres- 
ent agitation in our country and others, the present attempts 
made to substitute class domination for the general will, can 
be cured permanently only by the adoption by all of us, or by 
the majority of us, of the spirit of service as our ideal of life. 
That adoption will be hastened in proportion as the public 
gives a larger meed of recognition and reward to those who do 
the largest service, whatever the line of their activity. If 
democracy is to continue, it must more and more recognize the 
spirit of service in its members. It must be ready to reward 
that spirit of service with a generous recognition in those mat- 
ters that are regarded as individual success, as well as in mat- 
ters of reputation. The process of change will be long and 
its accomplishment will be difficult, but until this spirit be- 
comes the general spirit of the people, efforts of one class or 
another to get domination over all are sure to continue. We 
need an abiding faith in the ultimate triumph of righteousness. 
That faith will be justified and strengthened in proportion as 
the spirit of service spreads and receives recognition. For that 
reason the recognition that we are giving our quiet, gentle 

49 



CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

scholar is a cheering sign. Yet how much better would it 
have been could it have been given in larger measure while he 
was still living! It is so easy to love our prophets after we 
have stoned them to death, and so much cheaper ! Undoubt- 
edly the world will continue to stone its prophets and to rec- 
ognize them as such only after they have passed away where 
they cannot appreciate the warm glow of sympathy and ad- 
miration which, in due time, the world will feel and try to 
express. But it is only in the spread of this spirit and the 
acceptance of this doctrine that we can find the ultimate salva- 
tion of a democratic society. 

To my mind the contribution which Professor Hopkins, 
by his life, his attitude of mind and spirit, and his doctrine of 
service, has made to our practical social philosophy is as im- 
portant as — aye, more important than — his contribution to 
agriculture. For without the growth of the spirit that he has 
shown, democracy cannot endure and improvement in agri- 
culture will be of little moment. 

While the attitude of the members of a democratic society 
must be, as I have indicated, generous and tolerant towards 
those who are seeking to serve it, those servants who in serving 
it are its leaders need always to remember, as Professor Hop- 
kins did, that they are but instruments to be used until broken 
and then to be replaced. That was his spirit. In that spirit 
he went on his great duty to Greece ; in that spirit he set his 
face westward on his homeward return. He cared little what 
became of himself so that his work was done. In research, as 
in other lines of service for the people, the watchword for 
everyone who would be of use is "Spend and be spent." This 
is the record of those heroes and leaders who, in their long 
fight for righteousness, have lifted up the torch of courage to 
light the path of their fellow men. As another great leader has 
said : "It is a little matter whether any one man fails or suc- 
ceeds, but the cause shall not fail, for it is the cause of man- 
kind." In this spirit must each one of us make his contribu- 

50 



THE PUBLIC SERVANT 

tion. In this spirit must each one of us seek to do his service. 
In this spirit must each one of us do his life work, content that 
whether distinction comes to us or not, is a matter of little mo- 
ment so long as God's work is done. 

Finally, the duty is incumbent upon us all in a democracy 
to see to it that the society is true to itself and serves its own 
ideals. A democracy that is rent by factions is a democracy 
without the spirit of public service. It will fail. A democracy 
that permits itself to be exploited by the strong, whether indi- 
viduals or groups, will fail, because the spirit of service is lack- 
ing in those individuals and groups. A democracy that casts 
obloquy upon those who serve it and discredits them as self- 
seekers, will fail, because in the long run it will kill the spirit 
of service in those of its members who seek to do good. There 
is no way of success for democracy excepting in the wider 
application and practice of this spirit of service to one another. 
We have been accustomed to say : "I will achieve individual 
success, in making a fortune or what not, and thereby make my 
contribution to the general welfare." We must now say : "I 
will make my contribution to the general welfare by serving 
my fellow men to the best of my ability in the line of my 
chosen work, and have faith that in the recognition of my 
obligation, adequate rewards of fortune and name will come 
to me." 

The two ideals are not incompatible; the latter is the 
harder path to follow and the harder height to attain. In 
the long upward walk of men, only a few of each generation 
have chosen that latter way and walked that harder path. But, 
thank God, the number has been an increasing one as the gen- 
erations have passed, and it is larger today than it ever has 
been before. It will be larger tomorrow than it is today ; it will 
be larger tomorrow and more powerful tomorrow because 
Cyril G. Hopkins set so shining an example of that spirit and 
attitude and ideal in his own life. 



51 



THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE WORK OF 
DOCTOR HOPKINS 

By E. W. ALLEN 

Chief, Office of Experiment Stations, United States Department 

of Agriculture 

IT is said, "There is no joy the world can give like that it 
takes away," The taking away of an illustrious public 
servant in the full vigor of his career arouses not only a sense 
of irreparable loss but a first feeling that his passing was pre- 
mature, that his work had not been finished, that he was 
needed to carry it forward. We may forget that life is meas- 
ured not by its length but by its accomplishment, that the most 
that can be expected of any man is that he "will stir a few 
grains of sand on the shore" of knowledge — that his greatest 
service may be to supply a new vision or set in motion a move- 
ment so far-reaching that it will require time and others to 
complete its fulfillment. The larger the idea or the greater its 
reach the more rarely can he see it thru. The work of a man 
who has been a great constructive force lives on after he has 
passed, marking a definite step in human progress and gaining 
strength with perspective. 

In the death of Doctor Hopkins not only Illinois and the 
Central West, but the country, agricultural science, and the 
American experiment station system, loses one of its foremost 
students and one of its most conspicuous examples of a life of 
service in science for agriculture. He belonged to all of us. 
He was a powerful champion of the underlying purpose of 
agricultural investigation, and he was a great stimulating influ- 
ence in giving it direction. He dealt with subjects of funda- 
mental importance in a manner which was at once scientific 
and practical ; and by the clearness of his thinking, the per- 
severance of his efforts, and the vigor with which he expounded 
his conclusion, he made a nation-wide impress. 

52 



SIGNIFICANCE OF HIS WORK 

I have thought to consider briefly the broader aspects of 
Doctor Hopkins' career as illustrating the qualities and re- 
quirements of experiment station work and some of the lessons 
which his activity affords. This may be done under three 
general heads : first, his work as an investigator — the example 
of concentration, of work shaped and guided in accordance 
with a clear purpose and a broad fundamental idea ; second, 
his work as an interpreter and demonstrator of investigation — 
an expounder of the results of science in popular form ; and 
finally, as a product of both, the forceful illustrations he gave 
of the application of science to the most practical operations 
of agriculture and the far-reaching conviction he aroused in its 
usefulness. 

Doctor Hopkins' guiding purpose may be found in the 
Biblical command that, as wisdom is the principal thing, 
"therefore get wisdom and with all thy getting get understand- 
ing." Aye, this is the chiefest aim of all, for understanding 
is the basis of reason and intelligence, and without these what 
we designate as plain common sense loses its force and reli- 
ability. First and always he sought wisdom and the under- 
standing of things, to direct him in his search and to safeguard 
him in interpretation. 

One of the most important lessons which the past quarter 
of a century has impressed upon this country is that agricul- 
ture is just as susceptible of investigation and of understand- 
ing in all its processes as is engineering or medicine or any 
other form of human activity, and that thorogoing research is 
the most effective means for determining safe and sane 
methods for its advancement. 

Doctor Hopkins' career was an example of the truth of this. 
He never doubted the power of science to benefit agriculture 
in practical ways. His first interest in it was in its applica- 
tions, the use to which he could put it in solving practical 
everyday questions or in leading to a clear comprehension of 
their meaning. He did not hesitate to make these applications 

53 



CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

of science, for he had both courage and faith in them and he 
was not deterred by quibbles and doubts. 

He employed science as a means rather than an end. He 
sought its practical applications in explaining the meaning and 
the true significance of facts. He himself quoted the great 
chemist Liebig, who said : "Agriculture is of all industrial 
pursuits the richest in facts and the poorest in their compre- 
hension. Facts are like grains of sand which are moved by the 
wind, but principles are the same grains cemented into rocks." 
He sought diligently the comprehension of these facts and 
their development into principles of action. 

To this faith in science and courage in its application he 
added the vision and imagination essential to any epoch- 
making or revolutionary effort. His view of practical ques- 
tions was not warped or foreshortened by temporary advan- 
tage ; but enabled him to see them in their true perspective in 
the light of permanent benefits or effects. And so he early 
discerned some of the typical problems of his state and saw 
the drift of the method of farming in the Middle West in its 
ultimate effect. Selecting a few lines which could be studied 
thoroly in all their relations, he threw the whole force of his 
energy and enthusiasm into their pursuit, holding on with bull- 
dog pertinacity to a phase of the problem which for the time 
being baffled him, or to a proposition which he was striving 
to advance. An obstacle was to him something to be over- 
come and turned into a stepping-stone to progress. 

Perhaps his strongest trait as an investigator and that 
which teaches the most powerful lesson was his devotion to an 
idea, his concentration of effort on its development and sub- 
stantiation. It gave purpose and direction to all his work. He 
refrained from undertaking too many unrelated things at once. 
He paid little attention to experiments which were merely 
comparative or to narrowly limited trials. His effort was wide 
in range and variety, but it dealt with large rather than trivial 
or disconnected matters — never with the commonplace or scat- 

54 



SIGNIFICANCE OF HIS WORK 

tered. It was concentrated and consciously aimed. His ex- 
tensive field tests, his more refined experiments, and his 
laboratory investigations, whatever their grade, were parts of 
a greater whole which centered in some phase of a broad, gen- 
eral problem. They aimed at developing a method, a system, 
a principle. 

This was indeed an important quality of his activity, and 
well illustrates an attribute of thorogoing investigation which 
itself imposes quite definite limitations on the output. It was 
a quality which enabled him in the end to accomplish so much 
that was worth while. It showed the breadth and depth of his 
view, an intelligence about his whole subject which was not 
vaporized in the pursuit of small, disconnected parts. The 
man who has no vision beyond unrelated comparisons of this 
treatment with that, measurement and quality of soil particles, 
composition and form of materials, but becomes lost in their 
study for themselves, fails to see the forest on account of 
the trees. The conspicuous names in agricultural investiga- 
tion are of those who have had a broad, philosophical grasp of 
their subject, as had Doctor Hopkins, which guided every step 
and molded the product into a symmetrical whole. 

While Doctor Hopkins was interested in the practical 
applications of knowledge, he was not concerned in merely 
practical work without knowledge. This is an important dis- 
tinction which marks the man of science. He sought first the 
truth, and he adopted every known means to insure it. He 
was content, furthermore, to make haste slowly if safely. As 
it is a function of science to interpret human experience, he 
gave close study to the practices and views of leading farmers, 
and he took account of their experience in relation to current 
views. Such an interpretation requires a high degree of skill 
and caution, for while, rightly interpreted, all experience is 
useful, it may be potentially a source of grave error. He had 
keen insight and powers of observation, and an analytical mind 
which subjected every result to critical scrutiny. He usually 

55 



CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

got all there was to be derived from an observation or an in- 
vestigation, either in deduction or suggestion. 

His study extended far beyond the range of his own efforts. 
He was by no means narrow or self-centered, or engrossed in 
his own theories. He followed closely the work of others, 
built upon it, and embodied it where it served his purpose. 
For he was a master in marshaling and weighing the evidence 
and in weaving it into a theory or a system he was elaborating. 
Few men in his line have ever drawn so copiously from the 
work of Rothamsted and other long-time experiments, from 
census data, and from records of various kinds which bore 
upon his thesis. Little that was current escaped him or his 
searching analysis. 

This is the true method of progress in science — to build on 
what has gone before. An eminent French scientist once said : 
"If we are able to add something to the common domain in the 
field of science or art or morality, it is because a long series of 
generations have lived, worked, thought, and suffered before 
us." The wholly new contributions which any man can make 
are relatively small compared with the infinity of knowledge. 
All we know at present is a mere fragment of what will ulti- 
mately be found out. 

New knowledge is built up by a constructive process, usu- 
ally the product of many minds. Chance discoveries of great 
moment are rarely made at random. Piece by piece new 
truths must be found and fitted together. Each investigator 
must rest his work on that of others. He must "stand upon the 
shoulders of the past" if he is to look far into the future. To 
know what has gone before is as essential as to know how to 
add to it. 

Slow as discovery may seem to be by this method, it is 
after all relatively rapid when we think of the vast changes in 
which Doctor Hopkins has had a part in the twenty-five years 
of his service. Farming on the basis of science-teaching is 
progressing relatively fast. Our power over nature is increas- 

56 



SIGNIFICANCE OF HIS WORK 

ing, and prediction of what will follow a certain course of 
action can be made far more accurately than ever before. 
What this means to agriculture is emphasized by the state- 
ment of one of our most experienced station directors that "the 
success of the farmer consists not so much in the skill of his 
hands as in his ability ... to avoid the isolation of natural 
law." The force of this Doctor Hopkins well understood, and 
his work was directed to interpreting those laws and influences 
so that the farmer might better understand how to avoid vio- 
lating them and how properly to employ them. 

Doctor Hopkins was a keen critic, and in this role, again, 
he rendered conspicuous service, because his criticism was 
honest and was tempered by real desire for the truth — not by 
any sordid motives or purpose to break down. The watchful- 
ness he maintained of the publications in his field had a whole- 
some influence, for criticism which is sound and constructive 
is the life of progress in investigation. It guards against error 
in deduction and it leads to a strengthening of the evidence. 

Criticized himself, he stood firmly for his views and de- 
fended them tenaciously when he felt that he was in the right, 
but he did not fail to profit by questionings in reinforcing his 
position. He differed often and honestly with others, but if 
I view him aright he did not bear malice or personal feeling, 
and the vigor of his contentions expressed the force of his 
nature. He was sure of himself, as he had a right to be. 
Difference of opinion was with him a question of facts and 
their meaning, not a personal matter. 

The influence of such a man on the progress of thought and 
investigation is not easily estimated. And yet he was not often 
seen at meetings of scientific men, altho honored by member- 
ship in many scientific organizations. He lacked the time, 
apparently. More often he was to be found in the meetings 
of farmers, who were his real clientele. He did not need the 
inspiration of personal contact with men of science, for he him- 
self felt the infusion of the divine fire, and he imparted it to 
those who came in contact with him. 

57 



CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

But his writings commanded attention, and it was thru 
these that his broader impress was made. Not to read them 
was to omit keeping abreast of the times, for his bulletins 
and circulars and his published papers always carried a mes- 
sage, usually a stimulating thought. Because he was known 
to be doing things, a bulletin by him was opened with expecta- 
tion; and the plain, straightforward, vigorous style in which 
his results were presented and his theories expounded was the 
stamp of a clear and forceful mind. 

Doctor Hopkins' career typified service in the best sense. 
He was actuated by a desire to do something which would 
benefit humanity, something which would endure. For he 
was "working for the man with his coat off," as a former Sec- 
retary of Agriculture used to say. He was not satisfied with 
investigation for itself, but he demanded to see it crystallized 
in action. He realized that it is not what a man knows that 
makes him of value to the community, but rather the use he 
can make of his knowledge in serving the human race. 

He put his knowledge to use. He was a demonstrator ; to 
an extent, a middleman in science. In some respects this was 
his most powerful role. He was not merely a compiler, a pur- 
veyor, but a digester and interpreter of investigation. He 
translated the results into terms of practical farming, and he 
demonstrated the lessons and expounded them to wide audi- 
ences with power and with far-reaching effect. He was a vig- 
orous advocate. 

It seems to require some master of the art of forceful 
presentation, from time to time, to arouse the public to the full 
meaning of what investigation is teaching — some one with 
genius for popularizing science without distorting it, and for 
bringing it into homely everyday use. He was such a master. 

The man who would make two blades of grass grow where 
one grew before, if he is to be the human benefactor that Dean 
Swift pictured him, must understand all the factors that are 
involved and take account of the ultimate effects, or he may 

58 



SIGNIFICANCE OF HIS WORK 

prove to be a prodigal son instead. It was because the produc- 
tion of the one blade was often at the expense of the future that 
Doctor Hopkins' voice was raised and a crusade conducted 
with all the rugged force and enthusiasm of his personality. 

He taught, as you well know, that agriculture based on the 
provident use of the soil is the foundation of national welfare, 
and that the maintenance of fertility is the basis of permanent 
agriculture. He looked upon the soil as a legacy, one of the 
greatest natural resources, which after supplying our present 
needs should be transmitted unimpaired if not enhanced in fer- 
tility and productiveness. 

He did not stop with the advocacy of this thesis, but he set 
about developing a practical system for carrying it out. It 
was not merely a theory with him ; it was a feasible, practical 
method of farming. When he said in one of his later bulletins 
— "Every farmer should practice a high-grade system of 
permanent agriculture. This is made possible by good crop 
rotations and the application of materials economically supple- 
menting soil deficiencies," he spoke without reservation and 
from the depth of his convictions. The idea was not wholly 
new, but he gave new force to it, basing it on work which 
was both intensive and extensive. 

Undoubtedly more than any other man he was responsible 
for impressing upon the farmers of the Middle West the in- 
evitable result of continued overdraft on soil fertility, and the 
idea of permanent fertility. When he first undertook this, his 
was like "the voice of one crying in the wilderness," but 
instead of being deterred by apathy he was spurred on. He 
couldn't be stilled. He was an evangelist preaching the gospel 
of soil fertility and permanent agriculture, to an audience that 
broadened and widened until it included the whole country. 
And he moved them, he put his message across ; his theory 
became accepted in principle, if not indeed in every detail. 

Because he was successful and had such a far-reaching 
influence, this work constituted one of the most striking dem- 

59 



CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

onstrations to be found of the value of science in agriculture; 
and the result of it was felt in an enlarged appreciation and 
support for research. We cannot too often remember what 
such an influence has meant. 

The manner of conducting the soil survey, with its study of 
the soils in the field, in the laboratory, and in pot cultures, 
later supplemented by lysimeters, need not be mentioned fur- 
ther than as an example of the thoro and systematic manner 
in which he brought to bear every known method for the study 
of soils. Here again he sought to bring the work to a point 
where it had real, practical use. 

His corn-improvement study, demonstrating in so striking 
a manner how far the individual fluctuations could be seized 
upon and used to advantage, aroused wide attention at the 
time and lent a great stimulus to improvement, adaptation, and 
seed selection, which have become widely established in theory 
and practice. 

It was not necessary for Doctor Hopkins to wait until his 
career was closed to receive the tribute of success. He lived 
and worked to a great purpose. Not only did he accomplish 
things of large import, but his work was recognized, as the 
work of few has been, while he was engaged in it ; and he had 
the gratification of knowing that it was effective and was 
appreciated. He had the satisfaction that comes from doing 
a task well, and the additional joy of so doing it as to render 
an enduring service. What he has meant to Illinois, to the 
Central West, to the country, and to the cause of permanent 
agriculture, history will record in grateful recognition, 

"We glory in the man who can; 
We glory in his might and mastery. 
We glory that within the sullen clod 
His eyes have read the secrets of our God ; 
That his own hands have grappled with the key. 
For fellowmen to set those secrets free. 
We glory of his deeds to tell; 
And it is well." 

60 



DOCTOR HOPKINS, THE MAN 

By EUGENE DAVENPOKT 

Dean of the College of Agriculture and Director of the Agricultural 

Experiment Station, University of Illinoia 

A GREAT character has gone from among us. I can hardly 
reconcile myself to the loss of him. It seems quite im- 
possible. He is away upon a journey and some day will come 
into my office again with his accustomed smile and hearty 
greeting and we shall fall again to discussing ways and means 
of insuring for all time the producing power of Illinois soils. 
It is only my reason that corrects my vision of his coming. 

Others have spoken of the work of Doctor Hopkins and 
of what it has meant and will mean to the state and to the 
world. It is therefore my present purpose to speak of the 
man, rather than of what he accomplished — of his methods of 
work, his ideals, his visions, and his peculiar personal quali- 
ties that stood as a background to give supreme value to all 
that he did. It is important, I take it, that this rich mine of 
human excellence should not be left untouched until those who 
knew him intimately have themselves passed to their reward 
and it shall be too late. It shall therefore be a duty as well 
as a labor of love to set down as impartially as I am able the 
leading personal qualities of this great man as they appeared 
to me who lived in almost daily contact with him for nearly 
a quarter of a century. 

HIS METHODS OF THOUGHT AND WOEK 

Doctor Hopkins' methods of work proceeded from his 
methods of thought, for nothing was artificial with him. He 
did nothing for effect. His only object was "truth" and in 
its quest neither time nor labor counted in the balance. 

He was born as well as trained a chemist; that is to say, 
his habits and methods of thought were analytical. Yet was 

6i 



CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

he not satisfied with mere analysis — with taking things apart 
simply for the sake of laying out and naming the pieces. His 
only interest in the analysis of things was to find out how they 
were made, by what principles they were actuated — all for 
the sake of making use of their service and of insuring their 
perpetuity. 

He was eminently a practical man, and he continually re- 
fused to draw any line between science and practice. "Science 
is truth," he often said, "and practice to be successful must 
be based upon truth" ; and he continually insisted that no 
basic difference existed between those forms of truth that have 
become familiar thru long acquaintance and those newer forms 
that are but just discovered, or even those that still remain 
to be elucidated. 

To him, therefore, the world with all that it contains was 
but a great assemblage of truths held together by essential 
principles that have all the force of immutable law. Some of 
these truths and principles lying on the surface, so to speak, 
have long since been discovered and passed into practice ; 
others lying deeper or held in more complicated bonds, are 
more difficult of discovery and application, requiring special 
methods. It is the reduction of this class of knowledge that 
is the special business of science and of the scientist. But 
once discovered these truths are no different than are any 
others. All truth is truth, and that is all that can be said 
about it. 

I have said that Doctor Hopkins had a deeply analytical 
mind. It was this that would not let him stop with the analysis 
of corn as corn, but led him to analyze different ears to see 
if they were all alike. Finding them different, he must needs 
know whether that difference resided in the tip, the butt, or 
other part, and whether the kernel might be the real unit of 
variability. 

Finding the substantial differences to reside in the ear as 
a whole, his mind would not rest until he determined whether 

62 



THE MAN 

and to what extent these differences were hereditary and 
capable of piling up in the distinct strain of high or low pro- 
tein, oil, or starch. The result was one of the world's most 
significant breeding experiments, the first in which the chem- 
ical constitution of a seed had been altered by systematic se- 
lection. And yet Doctor Hopkins was not a geneticist; he 
simply followed his own mind and methods in logical steps 
and to logical conclusions. 

The same mental logic compelled him to say that you can- 
not compound a fertilizer or otherwise prescribe treatment 
for a soil until you know its special composition, any more 
than can a physician prescribe a remedy until he has first 
diagnosed the disease that is troubling the patient. It was 
the same logic that made him oppose the phraseology "phos- 
phoric acid" when it was phosphorus and not acid of any kind 
that was meant. He considered it illogical to advise farmers 
with one breath to apply lime to the soil to correct acidity, 
and with the next to apply an acid, when all acids are harmful 
and when there was not necessarily any acid in the material 
applied, necessitating an explanation that would hardly suffice. 

He reasoned also that it is more than folly to buy lime- 
stone by the carload to correct acidity, then to use fertilizers 
loaded with sulphuric acid to half their full weight, only to 
increase the freight and to make necessary still heavier ap- 
plications of limestone. 

It was this same analytical and logical habit of mind that 
led him to ultimate conclusions in fertility matters where other 
men — I had almost said all other men — stopped part way and 
with immediate results. He saw clearly what stands to reason ; 
namely, that no matter what the system or how immediately 
successful, the application of plant food must be not only equal 
but somewhat in excess of that removed by cropping, else the 
farmer is guilty of "soil robbery" and the end would be ex- 
haustion and abandonment, which, when it had gone far 

63 



CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

enough, would undermine and destroy civilization by cutting 
off the means of supporting life comfortably if at all. 

In proof of this he cited not only the inexorable logic of 
mathematics, particularly of subtraction, or rather division, 
carried to the nth degree, but he also pointed to the extensive 
regions of the world the soils of which are practically ex- 
hausted, and to the fact that thousands of our own once pro- 
ductive areas are already abandoned. 

He was at first opposed by the farmers who averred that 
they were now getting larger yields than when the country 
was new. He met this by calling attention to the better seed, 
better tools, and generally better methods now in vogue, and 
when he called attention to the fact that America has aban- 
doned lands of her own, the answer was, "Oh, they never were 
very good." Confronted with the fact that some of our aban- 
doned lands, as in Virginia, were once very fertile, the whole 
subject was dispatched with, "Oh, they have been farmed a 
long time." And Doctor Hopkins would say, *What is two 
or three hundred years in the life of a people, and where shall 
we find new lands when we have done with our old what the 
Aryan has always done to his ground — treated it not as a 
living organism, but as a mine to be worked out, then aban- 
doned?" 

Doctor Hopkins was even scoffed at as a prophet of evil, 
and by others educated as he had been in the best laboratories, 
showing that man may make scientists, but only God makes 
the prophet. He was confronted by the fact that civilizations 
have existed in certain regions from the remotest antiquity. 
In reply he was forced to call attention to the fact that such 
civilizations had either long since retreated to river valleys 
fed from vast interiors, as in China and Egypt, or else were 
subsisting by the hardest labor, as in many parts of India, 
where as reported by Dean Vivian of Ohio, one good meal in 
every two days is accounted satisfactory even to the farmer, 

64 



THE MAN 

the "good meal" consisting of all the corn cake a man's appe- 
tite would demand, with no accessories. 

His logic and his invincible arguments gradually won a 
large and intelligent following and in this regard Doctor Hop- 
kins reversed the ancient and honorable saying that a prophet 
is not without honor save in his own country. It was in his 
own state that he first won a following by means of his irre- 
sistible logic, his experiments and his demonstrations, all point- 
ing to the same thing, namely, the reasonableness of his doc- 
trine of the need and the methods of securing a permanent 
agriculture. 

And they came from the ends of the earth to study with 
him — from Egypt, from China, from India, from Assyria, and 
even from Nazareth. Finally, he was called to the seat of 
modern civilization, and stood with Paul on Mars Hill, de- 
claring the duty of man to the soil upon which he subsists, and 
its full discharge as a necessary means of beating his way up- 
ward to his God. 

HIS IDEALS 

Doctor Hopkins had but one purpose in life, and that was 
service, particularly along the lines in which he had special 
training. He was not one who assumed that all his obliga- 
tions could or should be discharged by his scientific achieve- 
ments — far from it. He was a good citizen, interested in the 
details of community and public life. He accepted and dis- 
charged all the ordinary duties of citizenship, and when time 
passed with no family, he invited into the full privileges of 
his home two boys who were homeless, and to them he gave 
all that he had beyond the devotion which he felt and lav- 
ished upon her whom he had asked to share his labors and 
his fortunes. He gave liberally to worthy enterprises, and 
from a young man he tithed all his earnings: one tenth went 
regularly to the Lord. His life was clean in the strictest sense. 
He had an especial abhorrence of drugs in any form, hence 
his aversion to tobacco and liquor, which in a way he classed 

65 



CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

together because of their subtle influence, an impression 
formed in part from his studies in pharmacy, but mainly con- 
stitutional. 

His abiding sense of service shut out all possibility of 
selfishness, even if it could have found lodgment in his nature, 
which I very much doubt. He was so intent upon accom- 
plishing what he had undertaken, and working while it was 
yet day, that he utterly forgot himself. Indeed, here lay his 
one great fault as we could see it, and it was a grievous one 
— he never spared himself. Of robust constitution and of al- 
most superhuman vigor and endurance, he labored continu- 
ally, against the better judgment and the earnest solicitation 
of those of us who knew that every man has his limits. Day 
in and day out, month after month, and year after year he 
labored and dreamed for a better agriculture, and for one that 
should build up instead of exhaust the soil upon which races 
and nations are dependent for that comfortable existence that 
permits of progress. 

He had a keen sense of humor and it stood him in excel- 
lent stead, for he was never angry, nor was he ever gloOmy 
even when working upon his most difficult problems in the 
face of opposition. He was of the stuff of which martyrs are 
made, and in the end he was a martyr as truly as any other 
that gave his life for a cause or for the good that he could do. 

HONESTY 

Next to the spirit of service and his ideals of the respon- 
sibilities of life, Doctor Hopkins' most distinguishing charac- 
teristic seemed to be honesty. Not that ordinary honesty 
which distinguishes between mine and thine in matters ma- 
terial, but that deeper reverence for truth that refuses to de- 
ceive either others or itself by things which are not what they 
seem. 

He talked much about "absolute truth," as if there could 
be any other kind. What he meant was to get at the real bot- 

66 



THE MAN 

torn of things and be certain to distinguish clearly between 
fancy and fact, between the shadow and the substance. Upon 
such a man ordinary temptations did not operate but slipped 
off as does a garment that does not fit. 

Hence it was that he borrowed money to help develop a 
phosphate mine for service to Illinois, not for the money that 
might be made out of it, but to convince people that he was 
honest in what he said about soil treatment. He said to me, 
"Nothing will convince like investing your money, especially 
when you borrow to do it." When it was decided that sound 
University policy did not permit of commercial investments 
in line with service, he readily understood that his motive 
might be misinterpreted and relinquished his interests. After 
that he put all his private energies and capital into the de- 
velopment of Poorland Farm, which he had chosen on the 
most badly worn soil that could be found in southern Illi- 
nois. This, too, he did as proof of the honesty of his inten- 
tions and the soundness of his doctrines. 

And now came what to many would have been the supreme 
test. He was to develop a farm upon the poorest land in 
Illinois to show what could be done. Accordingly, sympathetic 
interests tendered him all kinds of fertilizer free of expense to 
help the good work along and money without stint. With 
appreciative thanks he declined while paying interest on the 
purchase money and running deeper into debt for what he 
needed in order to put the farm on a producing basis. He even 
refused to buy farmyard manure of the neighbors, saying 
flatly, "I am not going to develop Poorland Farm at the ex- 
pense of neighboring farms, nor am I going to do anything 
that cannot be done upon any and every farm in the district." 

This is high ground for our admiration, and we are all 
gratified that he lived to pay for the farm and to make it be- 
gin to yield a small profit, justifying his program of procedure 
in the slow and costly restoration of worn-out soils. 

(>7 



CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

His greatest test came in turning aside matters and money 
that would have greatly enriched his department and its work 
upon the ground that Illinois did not want a "lop-sided" Uni- 
versity. More on this point I cannot say without violating 
confidence. 

LOYALTY 

Only a few of the outstanding virtues of a man like Doctor 
Hopkins can be mentioned in so short a paper as the limits of 
the occasion impose, but his spirit of loyalty must not go un- 
mentioned. 

His nature was not fickle. Once an issue or an idea or a 
man was accepted, the new conception became a part of his 
very being and henceforth figured as a permanent element of 
his existence. He was loyal, therefore, not only to his family 
and immediate associates, of whom he conceived no evil, but 
he was loyal also to that multitude of men whom he came to 
know more or less intimately as students, and to that larger 
company of business men, particularly farmers, nation-wide, 
even world-wide in its extent. His interest in truth was such 
that he forgot both himself and the man, and therefore met 
governors and ministers and kings exactly as he would meet 
a forty-acre farmer on his farm in southern Illinois. 

His loyalty was not limited to ideas and to immediate 
associates, but it extended widely to everybody and every- 
thing that might be involved. He served the University and 
the state of Illinois as few men have served anything outside 
themselves. He had declined repeated opportunities to enter 
more lucrative service, and when at last the most tempting 
proposition came, he wrote me substantially as follows : 

"I want to do what good I can while I stay, and will ac- 
cept detached service when possible. But I owe all that I 
am to Illinois and the University, and no place this side of 
Heaven shall take me away." 

In a few weeks he was gone to his long home, but he went 
from Illinois as truly as if he had never sailed away. 

68 



THE MAN 

THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY 

Doctor Hopkins was more than a scientist; he was a 
prophet. He valued science not for itself but for what it could 
be made to do, and he was a preacher in the matter of mak- 
ing it work. 

He was a prophet, too, in looking beyond the immediate 
and into the future. He depended upon no impulses and he 
practiced no incantations, but armed with "absolute truth" 
derived from asking questions of nature, and fortified by ir- 
resistible logic, he thundered against the sins of the fathers 
as the prophets of old thundered against corruption. 

I have heard him likened to Joseph, whose part he took 
in a play one time, and indeed he had the same prophetic 
vision in providing against the lean years. If we follow his 
teachings the lean kine will grow fat and never refuse to yield 
their sustenance. 

I have heard him likened to Saint Paul, whose footsteps 
he literally retraced during the last few months of his life. 
And indeed the similarity is great. Like Saint Paul he gave 
most of his life to a work which was not of his choosing, but 
to which he was called — for the headship of the department 
and the professorship in which he rendered his great service 
were tendered him by cable when he was a young man study- 
ing the chemistry of starch three thousand miles away. 

Like Saint Paul he entered into larger life and saw a vision 
of greater things than had been in the minds of the masters 
under whom he had sat. Like him he turned abruptly and 
gave all that he had to the new call, and like him he had a 
vision of a new heaven and a new earth. No wonder the com- 
mon people of Greece, seeing him walking the fields and work- 
ing wonders, called him a God. 

Such was the man who walked and labored among us and 
who has gone to his reward. His place will not be filled, but 
will remain a blessed memory. 



69 



DOCTOR HOPKINS' WORK 

By FRANK I. MANN 
Member of the University Soils Advisory Committee 

HUMANITY and civilization will not fully realize for an- 
other generation or more what was gained from the life 
of Doctor Hopkins, nor what was lost by his premature death. 
We may honor him now with our utmost reverence, but his 
greatest honors will be on the pages of the future, when the 
benefits that come from his having lived are more appreciated. 

Great needs call out for great men ; some come tardily, 
some come at first call, and some anticipate the call. Among 
the latter was Doctor Hopkins. He saw the need coming, and 
almost before the first call he was preparing himself to meet 
the great need. He saw the changing ratio between popula- 
tion and food production ; he saw the occupation of the last 
large areas of productive land ; he saw the reduction in food 
production on large areas ; he saw abundant food as the foun- 
dation of a happy people and a higher civilization. What he 
saw gave him a life work ; always with a love for humanity 
and a hope for higher civilization. 

The principles of food production had been given scientific 
study for a few decades before Doctor Hopkins' time and a 
school of soil fertility had been developed. This old school was 
based on false teachings, procured only temporary results, and 
when carried out long enough, destroyed the productiveness 
of the land. It was advocated largely by commercial interests 
and for profit. It took the master mind of a man like Doctor 
Hopkins to separate the true from the false and to develop 
a school of soil fertility based on permanency, economy, and 
high productiveness ; a system which leads to higher produc- 
tion the longer it is practiced ; a school which considers and 
solves the food problem for many generations. The great 
minds of the world are those who have reduced complex propo- 
sitions to simple equations ; who have changed complexity of 

70 



DOCTOR HOPKINS' WORK 

thought to simplicity of thought. This Doctor Hopkins was 
able to do with the problems of food production. 

His use of common natural raw materials in the production 
of food was strongly objected to by many who were directly 
or indirectly gaining profits out of the old-school systems, and 
many honorable and dishonorable efforts were used to discredit 
the more simple and truthful methods. Doctor Hopkins was 
always ready to take issue with the opponents of the new 
school of fertility ; and being always sure of his ground, he 
was at his best when discussing points of controversy. In his 
strongest defense against critics he had no feeling other than 
a desire for justice. 

Doctor Hopkins' love of humanity was his greatest emo- 
tion. While knowing full well the dangers that might come 
in his mission abroad, he did not hesitate to accept what he 
considered a duty to humanity. 

One phase of his life work is done ; another is left undone ; 
and it must become the duty of the many who received inspira- 
tion and the light from Doctor Hopkins in his lifetime, to 
revere his memory and carry on the dissemination of his great 
principles, in the spirit he would have given — a love for 
humanity. 

— Editorial in the Prairie Farmer, October S5, 1919. 



71 



EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS FROM COLLEAGUES 
AND FORMER STUDENTS 



EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS FROM COLLEAGUES 
AND FORMER STUDENTS 

"His going will be a great loss, almost an irreparable one as we 
think of it. He has done a wonderful work for the farmers of Illi- 
nois and for the whole country as well, and it is extremely regrettable 
that his life should now have been sacrificed in his high-minded pur- 
pose to bring aid to another country in time of distress." 

E. W. Allen 
Chief, Office of Experiment Stations 

"I am shocked to read in Science of the death of Dr. Hopkins. 
This is a real calamity. You will have the sympathy of all the 
workers and friends in the field. 

"I trust that the notes and studies of his observations in Greece 
are intact and will be available for publication." 

L. H. Bailey 

"Equipped for his life work with unusual physical and mental 
powers, which he kept in condition by an absolutely clean and relig- 
iously moral life; with a love for truth which could brook no de- 
parture from that standard; with an industry that took no account 
of the size of the task before him; with an altruism which placed 
the helping of others far above his personal comfort, he made for 
himself a place in the respect and esteem of his compeers and of his 
students, both those of the classroom and of the farm, that can never 
be measured by any money valuation. 

"I count it one of the great privileges of my life to have had his 
friendship and his counsel." 

Charles E. Thorne 
Director, Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station 

75 



CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

"I think it is not too much to say that among his contemporaries 
Dr. Hopkins was the greatest exponent of the science and practice 
of soil conservation in America. His reliance upon the importance 
of fundamental research, his remarkable judgment in applying dis- 
coveries of science to the practice of soil improvement, is a glowing 
example of the opportunity which awaits every young man of imagina- 
tion who devotes himself with a single-minded purpose to the de- 
velopment of agriculture through scientific research." 

F. B. MUMFORD 

Dean of the Missouri College of Agriculture and 
Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station 



"This, I feel, is a blow not only to the University of Illinois but 
to the agricultural world as well. Just before he left Greece he sent 
me some publications covering the work of his year in that ancient 
home of a classic people. He was acting and working in the interests 
of others even to the last and contracted the disease which caused 
his death because of his intense interest in science. Dr. Hopkins will 
long be remembered for his saneness in agricultural matters during 
an age when speculation and theorization seemed to run wild, and he 
has held us all along safe lines. 

"I shall always look back with pleasure upon the very happy and 
profitable year that I had the pleasure of spending at the University 
of Illinois under the direction of this great teacher." 

Henry G. Knight 
Dean of the Oklahoma School of Agriculture and 
Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station 



"He has rendered to the people of the United States a peculiar 
service which makes him a truly national figure. I have no doubt 
the work he has done in Greece will also have large results." 

E. A. Burnett 
Dean of the Nebraska College of Agriculture and 
Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station 

76 



LETTERS FROM COLLEAGUES AND STUDENTS 

"While words are a poor solace at such a time as this, there 
must be some degree of satisfaction in knowing that your brother, 
Dr. Cyril Hopkins, had a wonderful career, a career of which you 
may feel very proud and to which we South Dakotans, especially 
those of us who have a personal connection with the State College, 
point with the greatest satisfaction. As a pioneer in the study of 
soils, he may almost be called the father of permanent agriculture. 
As a teacher and an inspirer of young people, he had no superior, and 
as a man, a gentle man, deeply interested in the personal problems of 
his pupils and filled with the spirit of serving them and helping them 
surmount their difficulties, I doubt whether he had an equal. I have 
heard many of his former pupils speak of him with the greatest rev- 
erence and affection. 

"It seems to us that we cannot let him go. We can but wonder 
why a man like him should be stricken down when he was apparently 
at the height of his powers. But we know that the world is better 
because Cyril Hopkins lived." 

Robert L. Slagle 
President, University of South Dakota 
{Written to Mr. H. L. Hopkins) 



"Agricultural work in this country has lost one of its foremost 
workers, and he will be sadly missed in our agricultural work." 

B. W. KiLGORE 

Director, North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station 



"I had considerable acquaintance with Dr. Hopkins and always 
admired his sturdy common sense and tenacity of purpose. His un- 
timely death was a great shock and was a real loss to practical and 
scientific agriculture. Such men as he are far too few, and can be 
illy spared." 

J. T. WiLLARD 

Vice-President, Kansas State Agricultural College 
Vice-Director, Agricultural Experiment Station 

77 



CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

"I have been so intimately associated with Dr. Hopkins for more 
than a quarter of a century that I have come to regard him more as 
a brother than as a friend. The news of his untimely death so far 
from home is a dreadful shock to me. 

"He not only was wise and practical, but he had a true vision 
of the future of agriculture. He hesitated not to speak his mind 
when convinced of the truth. He opposed error with as much 
vehemence as he espoused the cause of right. His was a giant figure 
in modern scientific agriculture. 

Harvey W. Wiley 
Formerly Chief Chemist, United States 
Department of Agriculture 



"We, in North Carolina, were greatly shocked to learn of his 
untimely death. We realize that the Nation has lost one of its great- 
est thinkers in agriculture. Dr. Hopkins, in the life he lived, exem- 
plified his basic thought in permanent agriculture of returning more 
to the soil than was taken away. He gave more than he received." 

W. F. Pate 
Agronomist, North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station 



"In the passing of such a man as Hopkins in his prime, agriculture 
has lost a serving scientist whose plans were builded on the solid rock 
of truth. 

"I doubt whether his associates at Illinois realize what an inspira- 
tion his leadership has been to the younger men in agronomy and soils 
science, but to me at least he has always stood out as a great exponent 
of the positive. Essentials always loomed large with him." 

H. L. Walster 
Chairman of the Department of Agronomy, North Dakota 
College of Agriculture and Agricultural Experiment Station 

78 



LETTERS FROM COLLEAGUES AND STUDENTS 

"His enthusiasm, painstaking labor in his search for truth, and his 
ability as a teacher both in the classroom and in the agricultural press 
were exceptional. Illinois has by his death lost one of her most use- 
ful citizens and American agriculture one of its men of highest mark." 

William Frear 
Vice-Director and Chemist, Pennsylvania Agri- 
cultural Experiment Station; Chemist, 
State Department of Agriculture 



"We are extremely sorry to learn of the death of Dr. Hopkins 
and know that it is a great blow to Illinois. However, he had built 
up a lasting work and this work will continue to become of even 
greater importance." 

H. H. Love 

Professor of Plant Breeding, New York College of 
Agriculture and Agricultural Experiment Station 



"The world has lost a strong man, one who has given much to 
the science and practice of agriculture. He died in service as he 
would want to and in a field of work near to his heart. I believe 
that I, having been over there, can see as but few others can the great 
mental strain that comes to a man who ventures assistance to those 
destitute, simple, but noble people." 

C. P. Bull 
Associate Agronomist, Minnesota College of Agri- 
culture and Agricultural Experiment Station 



"The cause of scientific agriculture has lost one of its foremost 
leaders, and on behalf of the farmers of the Middle West, I extend 
to you and your colleagues my heartiest sympathy." 

H. J. Waters 
Editor, Kansas City fVeekly Star 



79 



CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

"The untimely death of Doctor Hopkins is a great state and 
national loss and a peculiarly poignant shock to those who knew him. 
Many years ago I saw a great deal of him and had an opportunity 
of learning something of the innate traits and characteristics which 
made him one of the outstanding figures among modern agricultural 
scientists. He was a lovable and noble character." 

DeWitt C. Wing 
Editor, The Breeder's Gazette 



"I am staggered by the news of Dr. Hopkins' death. I cannot see 
how we can get along without him: His family, the College and 
University, the people of Illinois, and the Nation are in need of his 
master mind. It makes the whole world seem dark. Personally I 
feel his loss as I would that of almost no one else. He was one of 
two men who exerted more influence on my life than all others; the 
other was a friend of my youth. I don't see how I can get along 
without Dr. Hopkins." 

F. I. Mann 
Member of University of Illinois Soils Advisory Committee 



"I am not able to express the sorrow I feel, and wish to extend 
to yourself and his other co-workers in the College my sincere sym- 
pathy. The soil of Illinois has lost the best friend it has ever had, 
yet the farm homes over the state and the increased food that will 
be given to the world thru Dr. Hopkins' efforts will be a memorial 
that will keep him in mind for many generations. 

"The Illinois Farmers' Institute has lost one of its best friends 
and ardent supporters. We shall miss him greatly, and I am certain 
I can speak for the entire Board in saying it is a personal loss to each 
one of us." 

Frank S. Haynes 
President J Illinois Farmers' Institute 

80 



LETTERS FROM COLLEAGUES AND STUDENTS 

"Let us hope that Greece is worthy the sacrifice and that the work 
which he did in the Cradle of Learning will become as common world 
property as are Vergil and Homer. 

"We can replace captains of industry, judges, generals and even 
presidents, but how can Dr. Hopkins be replaced! 

A. N. Abbott 
Director, Illinois Farmers' Institute 

"Permit me to pay this brief and incomplete tribute to a man 
whose service to agriculture did so much to make possible agriculture's 
ability to triumph over present obstacles and to insure humanity ample 
food under conditions which mean that the new era now in sight 
is to be the most glorious in the evolution of civilization." 

Herbert Myrick 
Editor-in-Chief, Farm and Home 

"In Dr. Hopkins' untimely death, the state of Illinois, the nation, 
and yes, the world, loses its foremost authority on soils and crops. In 
my judgment, Dr. Hopkins has done more than any other man to 
help solve agricultural problems. While he was employed by the 
state of Illinois, his work was known all over this country and other 
countries. Wherever I have gone I have found that the people had 
confidence in Dr. Hopkins and were following his recommendations." 

W. J. Kennedy 
President, Purity Biological Laboratories 

"The world is richer for his having lived and all humanity poorer 
by his having gone from among us." 

P. G. HOLDEN 
Director of Agricultural Extension, 
International Harvester Company 

"I never was impressed with the real greatness of Dr. Hopkins 
until that May morning in the driveway of Poorland Farm. There 

8i 



CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

I had a vision which will always be mine. He stood there with bared 
head and spoke words which thrilled me. Then I began to under- 
stand as never before. I never pick up that text "Permanent Agri- 
culture," I never teach a class about soils, without that vision of the 
man, Dr. Hopkins, like a prophet of old, sending forth his message 
of "Permanency." A farmer who went with us all the day long 
made this remark to me, "Dr. Hopkins is worth his weight in gold 
to the farmers of Illinois." To this I could well agree ; and I still 
believe it." 

Frank L. Bennett 
Former student of Doctor Hopkins 



"Through his death, it is not only that the United States has lost 
a great scientist, and the University of Illinois has lost a great pro- 
fessor; but also that the soil fertility has lost its best friend. His 
work on permanent agriculture, his advocation of the use of lime- 
stone and rock phosphate, and his successful proof of the inoculation 
of alfalfa with the nodule germs of melilotus, make me feel that what 
he did for soil fertility is at least equal to, if not more than, what 
Dr. T. J. Burrill had done for plant disease. Indeed, he accomplished 
much, yet much more still we expected from him on account of his 
scientific genius, his good health, and his age. His death is totally 
out of our expectation. May God bless his family!" 

S. S. Chen 
Former student of Doctor Hopkins 



"Accept my deepest regrets and sympathies on the death of your 
eminent professor. Dr. Cyril G. Hopkins, whose name will remain 
immortal to the Greek agronomists for his most useful study. It is 
undoubtedly the foundation of scientific agronomy in Greece." 

Pericles Callergis 
Chemist, Agricultural Chemical Laboratory, 

Athens, Greece 

82 



LETTERS FROM COLLEAGUES AxND STUDENTS 

"Professor Hopkins was a man whose qualities were universally 
admired by his associates in the American Red Cross, and by all the 
many Greeks with whom he came in contact. The service which he 
rendered to Greece is almost incalculable, for he worked with tire- 
less energy and with a full understanding of what each situation re- 
quired. Certainly Greece has acquired no more devoted or unselfish 
friend than Professor Hopkins, and his loss will be deeply mourned 
by the large number who have come into contact with him. He was 
a martyr to Greece, for the malaria which prostrated him must have 
been caught during his trips about the country where malaria is the 
curse of the people. 

"For his work and for his supreme sacrifice I admire him, and 
I wish to join my tribute to the many he will receive from those who 
knew him and appreciated him. He died in service, after giving 
without stint everything he could give. He leaves the world a bet- 
ter world for his having lived. 

"I send you my heartfelt sympathy for the loss which you have 
sustained." 

Major Henry B. Dewing 
Representing the American Red Cross in Greece 

"Deeply regret to hear of the death of the distinguished Professor 
Hopkins. Greece loses a good friend whose valuable services she 
intended again to avail herself of in the future. Kindly convey to 
his family our heartfelt sympathy." (Cablegram) 

K. Spiridis 
Minister of Agriculture, Greece 

"The death of the American Major Hopkins, recently announced, 
has caused great grief to the Athens public. Our people have been 
quick to recognize and appreciate the worth of the man, his zeal, and 
the warm sentiments of friendship which he has displayed toward 
Greece in rendering his great and valuable service as a member of 
the American Red Cross in Greece. 

83 



CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

"This splendid American officer rendered to the suffering popu- 
lation of Macedonia a service which was actually inestimable." 

Translation of a notice appearing in Hestia, one 
of the newspapers of Athens, October 12, igig 



"It is with great sorrow that the Royal Agricultural Society has 
heard of the death of the eminent scientist, Dr. Hopkins, Professor 
of your University and a distinguished member of the American Red 
Cross in Greece. 

"Our Society's Council board wishes us to express herewith its 
sincerest condolences for the loss of a man who extended his beneficent 
action beyond his country and worked with notorious zeal for the 
agricultural progress in Greece." 

P. Calligas, Vice-President 

Ph. G. Paliatseas, Secretary General 

Royal Agricultural Society, Athens, Greece 



"The city of Athens has been greatly saddened by the death of 
the ever memorable Cyril George Hopkins, whom it had the good 
fortune to know for a time. The Meropeon Society for the Train- 
ing of Girls in Need hastens to extend to you its sympathy and bid 
you have courage and pride in your grief. Major Hopkins fell more 
gloriously than did any of the generals, and he left not only the 
splendor of glory but also the spirit of benevolence and of love, even 
as did the great general of peace and of love, the Christ." 

Anna P. Theodoropoulou 
{Translation of a letter written to Mrs. Cyril Hopkins) 



"On the occasion of the death of Cyril Hopkins, please accept the 
condolences of one who recognizes the value of the service which he 
rendered the Greeks as a director of this philanthropic organization in 



84 



LETTERS FROM COLLEAGUES AND STUDENTS 

Greece. The information has come to me thru the newspapers. I 
beg pardon for not using ink inasmuch as such a thing does not exist 
in this place." 

Antonios M, Lioses 
Seaman, Central Training School, Poros, Greece 
( Translation of a letter addressed to the Di- 
rector of the American Red Cross in Athens) 



"Those who believed very deeply in Doctor Hopkins' work feel 
that our leader is taken away. His work amounted to a cause for all 
peoples, for human advancement must go forward by such work as 
was done by him. With him personally his work was part of an 
abiding faith that inspired others — to believe in the soil, as the basis 
of human life. His desire to preserve the land was his ruling passion. 
"It is no sentimentality to say that the Great Spirit led him out 
to spend a year among those Grecian peasants, stricken by war, 
famine, starvation, pestilence — telling the Greeks how civilization 
must be rebuilt on the basis of knowledge about the land. He finished 
that report, and gave it to the Greeks; telling them again that 
peoples must learn to use the earth and not abuse it — for that is the 
law of life." 

Albert Nash Hume 

Agronotnist and Superintendent of Substations, 

South Dakota State College of Agriculture 

and Agricultural Experiment Station 

(Extract from an editorial in the Farmer and Breeder) 



"Great as were his achievements in his chosen field, and their 
effects will be felt for generations, still to us he was greater as a man 
than as a scientist, for he had a breadth which was not always realized 
because of his earnestness in advocating his cause; he had a kindly, 
genial spirit though he did not advertise it ; and he was the soul of 
honor and constancy. The country misses and mourns Doctor Hop- 
kins as a scientist, a patriot, a diligent upbuilder of its fundamental 

85 



CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

source of prosperity. We miss and mourn him thus, but first as a 
friend always loyal, helpful, hopeful, and kind." 

E. S. Bayard 
Editor, National Stockman and Farmer 
{Extract from an editorial) 

"It was more than twenty-five years ago, and a very rough late 
October day, when the Associate Editor of the Missouri Farmer 
first met Cyril G. Hopkins, then a young man just beginning his work 
teaching Agricultural Science in the Illinois College of Agriculture. 
The ground was wet and frozen, but the young professor insisted 
that he accompany the plain farmer over the fields to show him the 
experiments in soil fertility then just well started, and which have 
since become world famous. 

"He promised to keep that farmer advised as to the results of 
these experiments, and he did not forget that promise as many other 
busy men would have done. Every phase of it has been reported to 
him in bulletins, books and private letters. 

"We have met in these fields a good many times since that cold 
day, and have seen the work of that one great man which has meant 
so much to those who have followed his teachings. A little more than 
two years ago, on a fine June day, I walked over these same fields with 
him the last time we ever met; two men who were getting gray and 
old, he to go, a famous man, into the Old World to help solve the 
war problems for them there as he had been assisting in solving those of 
our own farmers here so many years, I to go back to my farm and 
to my desk hoping to apply some of the things he had taught me and 
to spread the gospel of a better agriculture among my fellow farmers." 

C. D. Lyon 
{Editorial in the Missouri Farmer) 



86 



WRITINGS OF CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

Compiled by Louie Henrie Smith 

1893 Decomposition of Diazobenzene Sulfate in Isoamyl Alcohol. (With 

Wm. R. Orndorfl) Amer. Chem. Journ., vol. 15, p. 518. 

1894 Analyses of Commercial Fertilizers. (With W. C. Garrard) ///. State 

Bd. Agr. Rpt., 1892-4, p. 13. 

1896 Composition and Digestibility of Corn Ensilage, Cow Pea Ensilage, 

Soja Bean Ensilage, and Corn Fodder. ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 43. 

On the Determination of the Acidity of Milk and Cream. (With 
W. A. Powers) Proc. 12th Ann. Con. of A. O. A. C, 1895, U. S. 
Dept. Agr., Div. Chem. Bui. 47, p. 125. 

A New Safety Distillation Tube for Rapid Work in Nitrogen Deter- 
mination. Journ. Amer. Chem. Soc, vol. 18, p. 227. 

1897 Special Instructions for Taking Samples of Sugar Beets for Analysis. 

(With P. G. Holden) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 3. 

1898 The Sugar Beet in Illinois. (With Perry G. Holden) ///. Agr. Exp. 

Sta. Bui. 49. 
The Chemistry of the Corn Kernel. ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 53. 
Special Instructions for Taking Samples of Sugar Beets for Analysis. 

///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 12. 
The Oil of Corn. Journ. Amer. Chem. Soc, vol. 20, p. 948. 
Some Errors in the Determination of Nitrogen. Journ. Amer. Chem. 

Soc, vol. 20, p. 961. 
A Condenser for Extraction Work. Journ. Amer. Chem. Soc, vol. 20, 

p. 965. 

1899 Improvement in the Chemical Composition of the Corn Kernel. ///. 

Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 55. 

How to Ignite a Hydrogen Jet with no Possibility of Exploding the 
Generator. (Note) Journ. Amer. Chem. Soc, vol. 21, p. 634. 

The Incandescent Electric Lamp as a Source of Heat in Ether Extrac- 
tion. Journ. Amer. Chem. Soc, vol. 21, p. 645. 

Improvement in the Chemical Composition of the Corn Kernel. Journ. 
Amer. Chem. Soc, vol. 21, p. 1039. 

A Plea for a Scientific Basis for the Division of Soil Particles in 
Mechanical Analysis. Proc. 15th Ann. Con. of A. O. A. C, 1898, 
U. S. Dept. Agr., Div. Chem. Bui. 56, p. 64. 

A Rapid Method of Mechanical Soil Analysis, Including the Use of 
Centrifugal Force. Proc. 15th Ann. Con. of A. O. A. C, 1898, 
U. S. Dept. Agr., Div. Chem. Bui. 56, p. 67. 

Die Bestimmung von Kohlenoxyd, Methan, und Wasserstoff durch 
Verbrennung [The Determination of Carbon Monoxid, Methane, 
and HN'drogen by Combustion]. (With L. M. Dennis) Zeitschrift 
filr Anorganische Chemie, vol. 19, p. 179. Also Journ. Amer. 
Chem. Soc, vol. 21, p. 398. 

87 



CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

1900 Composition and Digestibility of Corn Fodder and Corn Stover. ///. 

Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 58. 

1901 The Elements of Fertility Taken from the Soil by a Crop of Corn, and 

How to Restore Them. Rpt. III. Farmers' Inst., vol. 6, p. 83. 
Methods of Standardizing Acid Solutions. Journ. Amer. Chem. Soc, 
vol. 23, p. 727. 

1902 Alfalfa on Illinois Soil. ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 76. 
Methods of Corn Breeding. ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 82. 
Instructions for Growing Sugar Beets. ///. Agr. Exp. ^ Sta. Circ. 52. 
Report of Committee on Soil Investigations and Experiments. Rpt. III. 

Farmers' Inst., vol. 7, p. 128. 
Separation of Alkalies in Soil Analysis by the Official Method. Proc. 

18th Ann. Con. of A. O. A. C, 1901, U. S. Dept. Agr., Div. Chem. 

Bui. 67, p. 43. 
Method for Taking Samples of Soils for Analysis. Proc. 18th Ann. 

Con. of A. O. A. C, 1901, U. S. Dept. Agr., Div. Chem. Bui. 67, 

p. 152. 
Fixation of Atmospheric Nitrogen by Alfalfa on Ordinary Prairie Soils 

under Various Treatments. Journ. Amer. Chem. Soc, vol. 24, 

p. 1155. 

1903 The Structure of the Corn Kernel and the Composition of its Different 

Parts. (With Louie H. Smith and Edward M. East) ///. Agr. 
Exp. Sta. Bui. 87. 

Soil Treatment for Wheat in Rotation, with Special Reference to South- 
ern Illinois Soils. ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 88. 

Sugar Beet Investigations in Illinois — Report of Progress. (With L. H. 
Smith) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 62. 

Investigation of Illinois Soils — Report of Progress. ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. 
Circ. 64. 

Corn Experiments in Illinois — Report of Progress. (With Louie H. 
Smith and Archibald D. Shamel) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 66. 

Methods of Maintaining the Productive Capacity of Illinois Soils. ///. 
Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 68. Also Report III. Farmers' Inst., vol. 8, 
p. 119. 

Infected Alfalfa Soil. ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 70. 

Present Status of Soil Investigation. ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 72. Also 
Proc. 17th Ann. Con. Amer. Agr. Colleges and Experiment Sta- 
tions, U. S. D. A., Office of Exp. Sta. Bui. 142, p. 95. 

Methods of Corn Breeding. Proc. 16th Ann. Con. Amer. Agr. Colleges 
and Experiment Stations, U. S. D. A., Office of Exp. Sta. Bui. 
123, p. 91. 

A Quantitative Method for Determining the Acidity of Soils. (With 
W. H. Knox and J. H. Pettit) Proc. 19th Ann. Con. of A. O. A. C, 
1902, U. S. Dept. Agr., Div. Chem. Bui. 73, p. 114. 

The Chemical Composition of Different Parts of the Corn Kernel. 
(With L. H. Smith and E. M. East) Journ. Amer. Chem. Soc, 
vol. 25, p. 1166. 



WRITINGS 

1904 Soil Treatment for Peaty Swamp Lands, Including Reference to Sand 

and "Alkali" Soils. ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 93. 
Nitrogen Bacteria and Legumes. ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 94. 
Soil Fertility Experiments. Univ. of III. Agr. College Ext. Circ, 

Form 6. 
Reading Course in Soil Fertility. Univ. of III. Agr. College Ext. Circ, 

Form 9. 
Some Possibilities of Soil Improvement in Illinois. Report III. Farmers' 

Inst., vol. 9, p. 115. 
The Present Status of Soil Investigation. Science, n.s., vol. 19, p. 626. 
Factors in Crop Production with Special Reference to Plant Food. 

Ohio State Bd. Agr., 59th Ann. Rpt., p. 370. 

1905 Soil Treatment for the Lower Illinois Glaciation. (With J. E. Read- 

himer) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 99. 
Directions for the Breeding of Corn Including Methods for the Pre- 
vention of Inbreeding. (With Louie H. Smith and Edward M. 

East) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 100. 
Factors in Crop Production with Special Reference to Permanent Agri- 
culture in Illinois. ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 87. Also Rpt. III. 

Farmers' Inst., vol. 10, p. 148. 
Soil Improvement for the Illinois Corn Belt. ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 96. 
Soil Treatment for Wheat on the Poorer Lands of the Illinois Wheat 

Belt. ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 97. 
The "Gist" of Four Years' Soil Investigation in the Illinois Wheat 

Belt. (With J. H. Pettit and J. E. Readhimer) ///. Agr. Exp. 

Sta. Circ. 99. 
The "Gist" of Four Years' Soil Investigations in the Illinois Corn 

Belt. (With J. H. Pettit and J. E. Readhimer) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. 

Circ. 100. 
Experiments in Corn Breeding. Proc. Amer. Breeders' Assoc, vol, 1, 

p. 65. 
Inbreeding of Corn and Methods of Prevention. Proc Amer. Breeders' 

Assoc, vol. 1, p. 147. 
Report on Soils. Proc 21st Ann. Con. of A. O. A. C, 1904, U. S. Dept. 

Agr., Div. Chem. Bui. 90, p. 170. 

1906 Science and Sense in the Inoculation of Legumes. ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. 

Circ 86. 
The Duty of Chemistry to Agriculture. ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ 105. 
Address (Title not given). Rpt. III. Farmers' Inst., vol. 11, p. 55. 
Soil Fertility and Permanent Agriculture. Proc 19th Ann. Con. Amer. 

Colleges and Experiment Stations, U. S. D. A., Office of Exp. Sta. 

Bui. 164, p. 134. 
Report on Soils. Proc 22d Ann. Con. of A. O. A. C, 1905. U. S. Dept. 

Agr., Div. Chem. Bui. 99, p. 109. 
Comparative Value of Steamed Bone Meal and Finely Ground Natural 

Rock Phosphate. Proc 22d Ann. Con. of A. O. A. C, 1905. U. S. 

Dept. Agr., Div. Chem. Bui. 99, p. 110. 

89 



CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

Increasing Fertility. Pub. by International Harvester Co. in Farm Sci- 
ence. Also pub. in For Better Crops, by the Service Bureau of the 
International Harvester Co. of America. 

1907 Soil Improvement for the Worn Hill Lands of Illinois. (With J. E. 

Readhimer) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 115. 
Illinois Soils in Relation to Systems of Permanent Agriculture. ///. 

Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 108. Also Rpt. III. Farmers' Inst., vol. 12, 

p. 248. 
Improvement of Upland Timber Soils of Illinois. (With J. E. Read- 
himer) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 109. 
Ground Limestone for Acid Soils, ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 110. 
Culture Experiments for Determining Fertilizer Needs. Cyclopedia of 

American Agriculture, vol. 1, p. 472. 
The Breeding of Maize. Cyclopedia of American Agriculture, vol. 2, 

p. 421. 
Unification of Terms Used in Reporting Analytical Results. Journ. 

Amer. Chem. Soc, vol. 29, p. 1312. 
Land Ruin Compared with Soil Improvement. Penn. Agr. Dept. Bui. 

154, p. 118. 

1908 The Fertility in Illinois Soils. (With James H. Pettit) ///. Agr. Exp. 

Sta. Bui. 123. 
Thirty Years of Crop Rotations on the Common Prairie Soils of Illinois. 

(With J. E. Readhimer and Wm. G. Eckhardt) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. 

Bui. 125. 
Phosphorus and Humus in Relation to Illinois Soils. ///. Agr. Exp. 

Sta. Circ. 116. Also Rpt. III. Farmers' Inst., vol. 13, p. 177. 
Seven Years' Soil Investigation in Southern Illinois. (With J. H. 

Pettit and J. E. Readhimer) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 122. 
Chemical Principles of Soil Fertility. ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 124. 
Soils and Crops. Rpt. III. Farmers' Inst., vol. 13, p. 266. 
Alfalfa. Rpt. III. Farmers' Inst., vol. 13, p. 311. 
Chemical Principles of Soil Classification. Science, n.s., vol. 28, p. 857. 

1909 Shall We Use Natural Rock Phosphate or Manufactured Acid Phos- 

phate for the Permanent Improvement of Illinois Soils? ///. Agr. 

Exp. Sta. Circ. 127. 
The Use of Commercial Fertilizers. ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 129. 

Also Rpt. III. Farmers' Inst., vol. 14, p. 201. 
A Phosphate Problem for Illinois Landowners. ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. 

Circ. 130. 
Lincoln's View of Agriculture (with Some Projections by Hopkins — 

1909). Pub. by the University of Illinois. 
Illinois Corn Belt Soil. The Illinois Agriculturist, vol. 13, No. 4. 
How Can the Farmer Maintain the Fertility of the Soil? Quart. Rpt. 

Kans. Bd. Agr., 28, No. 109, p. 35. 

1910 Crop Rotation for Illinois Soils. ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 141. Also 

Rpt. III. Farmers' Inst., vol. 15, p. 156. 

90 



WRITINGS 

European Practice and American Theory Concerning Soil Fertility. 

///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 142. 
The Story of a King and Queen. ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 145. Also 

Popular Science Monthly, vol, 78, p. 251. 
The Story of the Soil. Pub. by R. G. Badger of the Gorham Press. 
Soil Fertility and Permanent Agriculture. Pub. by Ginn & Co. 
Soil Fertility Manual. (With J. H. Pettit) Pub. by Ginn & Co. 
The Rotation of Crops. The Illinois Agriculturist, vol. 14, No. 4. 
Soil Experiment Fields. The Illinois Agriculturist, vol. 14, No. 9. 
The Relation of Pure and Applied Science in Education. Trans. III. 

Acad. Sci., vol. 3, p. 72. Also Science, n.s., vol. 31, p. 655. 
Calendar Reform. Science, n.s., vol. 32, p. 917. 
Saving the Soil — Practical Methods for Permanent Productiveness. 

Pub. by Banker^ Assoc, of III. 
The Soil as a Bank. Pub. by III. Bankers' Assoc. 

1911 Methods and Results of Ten Years' Soil Investigations in Illinois. 

///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 149, Part II. Also Rpt. III. Farmers' Inst. 

vol. 16, p. 24. 
Collecting and Testing Soil Samples. (With J. H. Pettit) ///. Agr. 

Exp. Sta. Circ. 150. 
Clay County Soils. (With J. G. Mosier, J. H. Pettit, and J. E. 

Readhimer) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Soil Rpt. 1. 
Moultrie County Soils. (With J. G. Mosier, J. H. Pettit, and J. E. 

Readhimer) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Soil Rpt. 2. 
Analysis of Statistics of Crop Production and Population. The Illinois 

Agriculturist, vol. 15, No. 4. 
Soils and Crops. Science, n.s., vol. 33, p. 423. 
Soil Fertility and Its Relation to Continued Prosperity. Trans. Natl. 

Lime Manfrs. Assoc, 9th Ann. Meeting, p. 136. 
Worn Out Soils. Pub. by the Dollar Savings & Trust Co. 
The Practical Use of Science in Soil Improvement. Pub. by III. Assoc. 

County Farm Superintendents. 

1912 Peaty Swamp Lands; Sand and "Alkali" Soils. (With J. E. Read- 

himer and O. S. Fisher) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bul. 157. 
Plant Food in Relation to Soil Fertility. ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 155. 
Soil Fertility — Illinois Conditions, Needs, and Future Prospects. ///. 

Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 157. Also Rpt. III. Farmers' Inst., vol. 17, p. 48. 
Shall We Use "Complete" Commercial Fertilizers in the Corn Belt? 

///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 165. 
Hardin Countv Soils. (With J. G. Mosier, J. H. Pettit, and J. E. 

Readhimer) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Soil Rpt. 3. 
Sangamon County Soils. (With J. G. Mosier, J. H. Pettit, and J. E. 

Readhimer) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Soil Rpt. 4. 
Soil Fertility and Permanent Agriculture (An address delivered before 

the meeting of the Third National Conservation Congress). The 

Illinois Agriculturist, vol. 16, No. 4. 

91 



CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

Plant Food in Relation to Soil Fertility. Science, n.s., vol. 36, p. 616. 
Some Economic History of the Original Thirteen States. /. H. C. 

Almanac, p. 28. Pub. by The International Harvester Co. 
Soil Improvement and Permanent Agriculture for New England. Pub. 

by Vermont Marl Co. 

1913 The Illinois System of Permanent Fertility. ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 

167. Also Rpt. III. Farmers' Inst., vol. 18, p. 90. 
Bread from Stones. ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 168. 
LaSalle County Soils. (With J. G. Mosier, J. H,. Pettit, and J. E. 

Readhimer) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Soil Rpt. 5. 
Knox County Soils. (With J. G. Mosier, J. H. Pettit, and J. E. 

Readhimer) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Soil Rpt. 6. 
McDonough County Soils. (With J. G. Mosier, J. H. Pettit, and O. S. 

Fisher) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Soil Rpt. 7. 
Bond County Soils. (With J. G. Mosier, J. H. Pettit, and O. S. 

Fisher) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Soil Rpt. 8. 
The Farm That Won't Wear Out. Pub. by the author. 
The Use of Commercial Fertilizers. The Illinois Agriculturist, vol. 

17, No. 4. 
National Problem. The Illinois Agriculturist, vol. 19, No. 9. 
Facts and Fictions about Crops. Science, n.s., vol. 37, p. 470. 
The Bread Supply. Science, n.s., vol. 38, p. 479. 
Illinois System of Permanent Fertility. Pub. by American Steel and 

IFire Co. 
Saving the Soil. Pub. by The Dollar Savings & Trust Co. 

1914 Permanent Soil Fertility. Rpt. III. Farmers' Inst., vol. 19, p. 24. 

The Illinois System of Permanent Fertility. Popular Science Monthly, 
84, No. 1, p. 52. 

Ground Limestone for Southern Soils. Farm Truth 1, Southern Settle- 
ment and Development Organization. 

Soil Fertility — the Greatest Necessity and the Best Investment. Amer- 
ican Bankers' Assoc, vol. 40, p. 199. 

Agriculture's Pressing Need. The Banker Farmer, vol. 1, No. 10, p. 2. 

Soil Fertility in Relation to General Prosperity. Rpt. 44th. Ann. Meeting 
Vermont Dairymen's Assoc, p. 74. 

Address (title not given). Rpt. 44th Ann. Meeting Vermont Dairy- 
men's Assoc, p. 38. 

1915 Radium as a Fertilizer. (With Ward H. Sachs) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. 

Bui. 177. 
Potassium from the Soil. (With J. P. Aumer) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. 

Bui. 182. 
How Not to Treat Illinois Soils. ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ 181. Also 

Rpt. III. Farmers' Inst., vol. 20, p. 20. 
Lake County Soils. (With J. G. Mosier, E. Van Alstine, and F. W. 

Garrett) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Soil Rpt. 9. 

92 



WRITINGS 

McLean County Soils. (With J. G, Mosier, E. Van Alstine, and F. W. 

Garrett) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Soil Rpt. 10. 
Pike County Soils. (With J. G. Mosier, E. Van Alstine, and F, W. 

Garrett) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Soil Rpt. 11. 
Charles Embree Thorn. T/ie Illinois Agriculturist, vol. 19, No. 6. 
Illinois System of Permanent Fertility. The Illinois Agriculturist, vol. 

20, No. 3. 
Radium Fertilizer in Field Tests. (With Ward H. Sachs) Science, 

U.S., vol. 41, p. 732. 
EflFect of Soil Depletion and Soil Enrichment on Loan Values of Farms. 

Pub. by Assoc, of Life Insurance Presidents. 
Principles and Profits in Soil Improvement. The Banker Farmer, vol. 

2, No. 9, p. 18. 

1916 Soil Bacteria and Phosphates. (With Albert L. Whiting) ///. Agr. 

Exp. Sta. Bui. 190. 
Summary of Illinois Soil Investigations. (With J. G. Mosier and F. C. 

Bauer) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 193. 
A Limestone Tester. ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 185. 
Phosphates and Honesty. ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 186, Part II. Also 

Rpt. III. Farmers' Inst., vol. 21, p. 26. 
Winnebago County Soils. (With J. G. Mosier, E. Van Alstine, and 

F. W. Garrett) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Soil Rpt. 12. 
Kankakee County Soils. (With J. G. Mosier, E. Van Alstine, and 

F. W. Garrett) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Soil Rpt. 13. 
Tazewell County Soils. (With J. G. Mosier, E. Van Alstine, and 

F. W. Garrett) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Soil Rpt. 14. 
Soil Bacteria and Phosphates. (With Albert L. Whiting) Science, 

n.s., vol. 44, p. 246. 
Methods of Criticism of "Soil Bacteria and Phosphates." (With Albert 

L. Whiting) Science, n.s., vol. 44, p. 649. 

1917 A New Limestone Tester. ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 194. 

Why Illinois Produces only Half a Crop. ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 193. 
Also Rpt. III. Farmers' Inst., vol. 22, p. 22. 

Essentials in Larger Food Production. ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 197. 

Ten Wheat Fields in "Egypt"— A Story in Figures. (With J. E. Whit- 
church and H. F. T. Fahrnkopf) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 208. 

Edgar County Soils. (With J. G. Mosier, E. Van Alstine, and F. W. 
Garrett) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Soil Rpt. 15. 

DuPage County Soils. (With J. G. Mosier, E. Van Alstine, and F. W. 
Garrett) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Soil Rpt. 16. 

Kane County Soils. (With J. G. Mosier, E. Van Alstine, and F. W. 
Garrett) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Soil Rpt. 17. 

Lawes and Gilbert. The Illinois Agriculturist, vol. 21, No. 7. 

Spreading Straw on Land. The Illinois Agriculturist, vol. 22, No. 1. 

A Limestone Tester. Journ. Amer. Soc. Agr on., vol. 9, p. 82. 

93 



CYRIL GEORGE HOPKINS 

Phosphate Experiments. Science, n.s., vol. 45, p. 213. 
A Simple Explanation. Science, n.s., vol. 46, p. 362. 

1918 Sources of Fertilizing Materials for Illinois Farms. (With F. C. Bauer) 

///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 223. 

Illinois Wheat Yields with Nature's Fertilizers. (With J. E. Whit- 
church, F. W. Garrett, H. F. T. Fahrnkopf, H. C. Gilkerson, H. J. 
Snider, and E. E. Click) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 229. 

Champaign County Soils. (With J. G. Mosier, E. Van Alstine, and 
F. W. Garrett) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. Soil Rpt. 18. 

Protecting the Greatest Base of Supplies. Rpt. III. Farmers' Inst., vol. 
23, p. 21. 

1919 Illinois Crop Yields from Soil Experiment Fields. (With F. W. Gar- 

rett, J. E. Whitchurch, and H. F. T. Fahrnkopf) ///. Agr. Exp. 
Sta. Bui. 219. 

1919 Yields from Ten Wheat Fields in "Egypt." (With J. E. Whit- 
church, H. F. T. Fahrnkopf, and F. H. Kelley) ///. Agr. Exp. Sta. 
Circ. 236. 

imS H EAAA2 MIIOPEI NA IIAPArH nEPI220TEPH TPO*H 
[How Greece Can Produce More Food]. (Translated into Greek 
by George Bouyoucos) Pub. by The American Red Cross Com- 
mission to Greece. To be reprinted in English by the University 
of Illinois. 



Note. — In this compilation no attempt has been made to include the 
numerous contributions made by Doctor Hopkins in the form of articles, 
letters, and notes to the various newspapers and periodicals representing the 
agricultural press. 



94 



